As a country, we value freedom of speech and take it seriously as one of our rights. That’s why movies, TV shows, video games and even mobile applications sometimes contain material that we may disagree with or find to be against what we stand for morally.

However, there is a difference between simply displaying a certain type of unacceptable behavior and engaging or encouraging others to practice it, even virtually. Reinforcing any type of harmful behavior through repetition and virtual rewards blurs the boundaries of what is right and what is wrong – especially for children, who are in their formative years. And while there are plenty of high-tech “shooter” games available, let’s face it — most kids can’t get their hands on an automatic weapon or a grenade launcher. But most kids have easy access to the family dog or a neighborhood pet. All it takes sometimes is the wrong idea about what is acceptable, an opportunity, and a lack of responsible adult guidance, and a kid could be on a path of harming actual living creatures.

Recently, Kage Games released a second version of a mobile app through which participants can learn to “train” dogs to fight one another. The way one wins in this app is to have their dog rip the other dog to shreds. The tagline on the “game,” called KG Dogfighting, is “Raise your dog to be the best.”

Unlike earlier versions of this game, which were loudly spoken out against by animal welfare organizations, the newest version is rated as a “high maturity” app, suitable only for players over 13. Despite this rating, there is really nothing stopping anyone under 13 from downloading the app or playing the game.

I’m concerned about children or young adults who download this app. As a board member and national ambassador for American Humane Association, a pioneering organization that studies The Link® between violence against animals and violence against people, I find it disturbing that this type of app might desensitize children to harming animals. Do children understand that this game is just a fantasy? Do they understand the real harm that comes from dogfighting?

Dogfighting involves more than horrific violence we force dogs to inflict upon themselves (and upon the unfortunate “bait” animals used in training them), often to the death. Police say where there are dogfights, other crimes are almost always being committed. At dogfights, children are exposed to the worst of what people can do, and are taught to do it themselves. They learn that cruelty to animals — and, often, to people as well — is not unthinkable.

That’s a lesson that we don’t believe should ever be learned.

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