Monkey-baiting is a blood sport

Blood sport

Bloodsport or blood sport is any sport or entertainment that involves violence against animals.Bloodsport includes coursing or beagling, combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, or other activities...

 involving the baiting

Bait (dogs)

Baiting or dog baiting most commonly refers to the act of setting game dogs against a chained or confined animal for sport. The dogs bite, and tear to subdue the opposing animal by incapacitating or killing it. Baiting is a blood sport used for entertainment and gambling...

 of monkey

Monkey

A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

s.

Background

The English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 were always keen for something new to challenge their dog fighting breeds. This resulted in rather strange fights, in part with completely surprising outcomes. 'Dog versus Monkey' was shown to be such a match-up.

The monkey proved to be a formidable opponent for the canine warrior; owners and handlers of fighting dogs frequently underestimated the monkey's abilities. The monkey's intelligence, dexterity, unorthodox fighting style and gameness proved to be overwhelming for many canine opponents.

Jack

The following occurrence is from The Sporting Magazine

The Sporting Magazine

The Sporting Magazine was the first English sporting periodical to devote itself to every type of sport, thus providing the historian with a reasonably comprehensive source.-History:...

 in the year 1799:

A quite unusual fight between two animals was staged in Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

. The wager stood at three guineas, according to which the dog would kill the monkey in at most six minutes. The dog's owner agreed that the monkey would be allowed to defend itself with a stick about a foot long.

Hundreds of spectators gathered to witness this fight and the odds stood at eight, nine and even ten to one in favour of the dog, which could scarcely be subdued before the fight. The monkey's owner took a stick, about twelve inches long, from his coat pocket, tossed it to the monkey and said:

"Now Jack, pay attention, defend yourself against the dog!"

The butcher cried:

"Now, get after the monkey!"

He let the dog go and it sprang at the monkey like a tiger. The monkey was amazingly nimble, jumped about three feet high in the air and when it came down landed directly on the dog's back, bit firmly in the dog's neck, grabbed his opponent's left ear with his hand thereby preventing the dog from turning his head to bite him. In this totally surprising situation the monkey now began to work over the dog's head with his club and he pounded so forcefully and relentlessly on the dog's skull that the poor creature cried out loudly. In short, the skull was soon cracked and the dead dog was carried from the ring. Yet, the monkey was only of medium size."

This monkey-baiting inspired the famous English animal painter, Samuel Howitt

Samuel Howitt

Samuel Howitt was an English painter, illustrator and etcher of animals, hunting, horse-racing and landscape scenes. He worked in both oils and watercolors.-Life and work:...

, to illustrate this account in the engraving entitled The Battle of the Bulldog and the Monkey circa 1799, which preserved this fight for future generations.

Jacco Macacco

Jacco Macacco was a fighting ape or monkey who was exhibited in monkey-baiting matches at the Westminster Pit

Westminster Pit

The Westminster Pit was a well-known blood sport arena in nineteenth-century London, England. It reached a zenith of popularity between 1820 and 1830, and hosted such spectacles as dog-fighting, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, badger-baiting, monkey-baiting, and rat-baiting...

 in London in the early 1820s. He achieved some measure of fame among the sporting community through his reputed prodigious record of victories against dogs. He was described as ashy, with black fingers and muzzle and may have derived his first name from the his association with the Jack Tar

Jack Tar

Jack Tar was a common English term used to refer to seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy, particularly during the period of the British Empire. Both members of the public, and seafarers themselves, made use of the name in identifying those who went to sea...

s that brought him into the country.

Jacco was reported to weigh 10 to 12 pounds (4.5 to 5.4 kg) and was pitched against dogs of up to twice his weight for a bet from ten to fifty pounds that the dog would not last five minutes.
According to William Pitt Lennox :

Lennox writes that after several fights, Jacco adapted his technique and would overcome his canine opponents by leaping directly on their backs and manoeuvring himself into a position where he could tear at their windpipes while remaining out of reach of their jaws.

The following is a fictionalized account by Pierce Egan

Pierce Egan

Pierce Egan was an early British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture.Egan was born in the London suburbs, where he spent his life. By 1812 he had established himself as the country's leading 'reporter of sporting events', which at the time meant mainly prize-fights and...

from Life in London in which his heroes, Tom and Jerry, visit the Westminster Pit in the year 1820:

"The dog pit was packed in a few minutes and many people were turned away grumbling, as if they had been deprived of the most beautiful sight in the world. They were so disappointed that they could not secure places ahead of time. Jacco Macacco was now presented in a pretty, small cage and was greeted by the shouts and whistles of the spectators. He was not even polite enough to bow in thanks for these signs of approval, which were directed at him alone. Jacco had a thin chain around his waist, about two metres long, which was fastened to a steel spike and pounded deep into the ground. Then he was taken from his cage.

Immediately after that the dog was brought out and it charged directly at the monkey. The monkey, however, before the dog reached him, ducked low, with dexterity that would serve a prize boxer well and rolled into a ball in order to withstand the force of the collision with the dog. Nonetheless, the dog immediately dug under him and turned him over. At that moment, however, the monkey's teeth cut like a saw into the dog's throat and like a knife ripped a large wound.

Because of the great loss of blood, which all dogs that fought against Jacco Macacco suffered, most died shortly afterward. The monkey very rarely suffered even slight wounds in these fights. It was said of him that he was of such an unbelievably ferocious nature that it seemed expedient to his master to always have a steel plate between him and the monkey in the event that the inadvertently bit at his legs.

"What a monster!" said a greasy butcher, who sat there with open mouth, a red nightcap on his head, pointing at Jacco Macacco. "I bet a leg of mutton on the monkey! You could strike me down if I ever saw such a thing before in my life. It is truly astounding! He seems to destroy the dogs with such ease as if for decades he had done nothing but fight dogs!"

You could fill a small book with similar quotations, which came from the noisy and excited crowd, all of whom admired the 'finishing qualities' of Jacco Macacco. Some laughed, others yelled wildly and a few of the people constantly jumped up and down in a kind of ecstasy, pounded their canes on the floor and resembled closely the inmates of a mental hospital, who had escaped from their straight jackets."

Jacco had finished off fourteen dogs in a row, but then he was challenged by a canine named Puss, who had a similar record. Puss suffered a lacerated neck and Jacco had his jaw torn off, both died shortly after the match.

Further reading

• Homan, M. (2000). A Complete History of Fighting Dogs. Pg 105 - 109 Howell Book House Inc. ISBN 1-58245-128-1

External links

• Monkey business