The Scottish Greens have called for a taskforce to root out dog fighting in Scotland, with only one prosecution in the last 25 years.
Legal affairs minister Annabelle Ewing said dog fighting is "largely clandestine activity" and urged members of the public to come forward if they have information about fights in Scotland.
Green MSP Mark Ruskell said the government should go further with the formation of a taskforce.
Ms Ewing said: "The Scottish Government supports the vital role of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) and the police in dealing with organised dog fighting.
"Scottish ministers have granted authorised inspectors from the SSPCA the same powers as local authority inspectors in relation to animal welfare offences.
"These powers differ only from police constables in relation to the arrest of an offender.
"Dog fighting is a largely clandestine activity and detection by enforcement bodies is greatly dependent upon information supplied by concerned members of the public."
Mr Ruskell said: "The SSPCA reported to us that the police have only successfully prosecuted one individual for dog fighting since 1991.
"We know that there is a particular link in Scotland to the activities of criminal gangs, so will the Scottish Government consider setting up a taskforce on animal fighting to share information, track those that have been convicted of animal abuse in the past and help bring more cases to conviction?"
Ms Ewing said: "In the period 2013 to 2016, there was only one case of dog fighting reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
"That, I understand, led to a successful prosecution and a conviction was forthcoming.
"If the member wants to bring forward further information in relation to this issue, I would be happy to look at it."
Later, Mr Ruskell said: "Our understanding is that only one person has been prosecuted for a dog-fighting related offence since 1991 as a result of a police-led investigation.
"I think most people in Scotland will be worried about this despicable form of organised animal cruelty.
"The minister confirmed that the barbaric act is very difficult for agencies to detect and is almost impossible to prevent and prosecute without tip-offs from the public.
"I'm pleased that the minister is open to how to tackle the problem. Considering the illegal gambling aspect associated with dogfighting, I hope the Scottish Government will consider setting up an animal fighting taskforce to share information across organisations, track those who have been convicted of animal abuse crimes in the past and bring cases of animal fighting to conviction.
"We can't allow gangsters to continue this activity with such little chance of prosecution."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article