Dogs being stolen to use as bait dogs.

I belong to a Facebook group for lost and found dogs in our area, and it is shocking how many owners are reporting that their dog was stolen right out of a fenced yard. 
It used to be that the only kind of dog that was likely to be stolen was a valuable pedigreed dog; but now, almost any kind of dog can be stolen and is often used in training the fighting pit bulls. 
Small dogs, puppies, and even cats are put out as bait for the pitbull to chase down and kill until they get the idea that this is what they should do to any other animal that they come across. 

Not only are the stolen dogs used as bait; but often purebred pitbulls are stolen to be used for breeding more fighting dogs.  Either way, many people are now losing their beloved petss because they are being stolen. 
Another way that the dog-fighters get dogs is to look in the sale/free ads and take dog that arebeing given away free. Often these people will have a woman, especially one with children, who is the person claiming to want to "adopt a puppy for her kids to play with", and once they get the free dog, it goes to the dog-fighters to be used as bait dogs. 

About the only way to prevent this , is to be sure that your dog is inside the house and safe at night, and when you are gone. If you have to re-home a pet, be sure to charge a re-homing fee, and also check vet references from the people before giving your dog or cat away to someone.

This is a disturbing news indeed. I've seen the videos of busted pitbull fights here in the Philippines. If the news is true then there's really no such thing as keeping our pets safe too much. We always check our dogs if they're already inside the house before we lock the gate and the doors. There have also been rumors of people who would put poison on food and they would give it to dogs just for the sheer "fun" they think it is.

Oh no, do you mean to say with being a bait is those dogs are used in dog fights? And if that is the case then those poor kidnapped dog is doomed to die in the fangs of a pit bull? It's really crazy when you learn of such an incident particularly the dog fights here in the Philippines where one acquaintance said that it is being financed by Koreans (no offense meant, pardon me for this info). The dog fights are streamed in the internet and used for betting abroad.

That is exactly what happen, @corzhens ! It is already sad and terrible that the pitbulls themselves are starved and made to be vicious and want to kill and then have to fight for their lives.
But even worse, at least to me, is that someone's beloved house pet, just like yours and mine, is put out to be killed by the pitbulls so that they can learn to be killers when they fight.
It is not only dogs that are being stolen; but also cats, and probably other small animals, like rabbits.
Since the pitbulls are starved, killing and eating a rabbit, or even a cat would certainly train them to shred another animal up brutally.

I read the lost and found posts on the pet group online every day, and many more people are losing their pets than are ever found again. Of course, some of these would be animals that were found and kept by other people, or somehow died and were never found; but a good number of them are used for the dogfights and training.
One way that they can tell this, is that they have also found the "dumping sites" where the mutilated, dying, or dead dogs are dumped after the dogfighters are done with them.
These pictures are too awful to even look at !!

I think that most of the story about the dogfighting is never known by the general public, and all we usually hear is that people are making money fighting their dogs.
This is why it is SO important to make sure that our own pets are safe when we are not at home.
Even though we have a good fenced yard, I always put the dogs in the house if we are gone , even for just a short time. Too many dogs have been taken out of totally fenced yards, so even that is not safe anymore.

Dog fighting needs to be STOPPED ! ! !

At the bottom of this depravity is the lack of sympathy and empathy present in most individuals. According to the broken windows theory, something that seems to be well cared for makes people to respect it. In the same vein, a society that is incapable of protecting its animals has little compassion even for their fellow human beings and in such societies, cases of murder are prevalent as well as other significant crimes. I wonder how these gross injustices can happen under the watchful eye of law enforcement agencies since animals are protected by law. These people should be arrested and deterrent sentences issued. In my country, the organisations involved with care and protection of animals are on the frontline for their advocacy with regard to animal rights especially donkeys which are some of the most mistreated animals on earth. Its interesting that what you have expounded on points to inversion of roles with people protecting animals. I saw a story of a certain area in China where people are spending sleepless nights guarding their dogs which are a form of delicacy there. Animal rights is an area that is yet to be scratched on the surface judging by the injustices committed against them. Shed a tear today for a suffering pet.