Police began an investigation Monday into Korea’s first online dogfight betting operation that caused an outcry among citizens and animal rights activists.

An animal rights activist posted about the site on an Internet portal last Wednesday, calling for an online petition to punish the website’s operators.

As of Monday more than 800 people have signed the petition. The National Police Agency received 60 internet petitions for an investigation.

The activist said in the internet post with a video clip attached that the gambling site showed five to eight video clips of dogfights once a day at a set time.

“Dogfighting is a crime of cruelly mistreating animals for entertainment. Training the canines to boost their aggressiveness is also a serious abuse,” the petition said.

The dogfight website established last March has 260 members and provides betting and fighting rules, and dogs’ information including their game records.

Some of the posts on the website read “the dog was bleeding like a stuck pig,” and “interesting.”

The government prohibits harming animals for gambling or entertainment, and a breach of the law is subject to one-year imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million won ($9,000).

“The Korea Communications Commission (a media regulator) shut down the website last Monday,” said an official from Seongdong Police Station, adding that “the tracking of the IP address has shown the web site was operated in Japan. The dog fight itself is deemed to have been held in Japan or China.”

Having difficulty in securing evidence including information about the operators and bank accounts used in the gambling, the police are considering seeking cooperation with Interpol.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)