Bred to kill

For the aficionados, dog fighting is more than a sport — it is a platform to play God with the violence of Darwin’s natural selection. “I have Hitler’s mentality,” says 35-year-old Mike Kennel, a pseudonym he chose to maintain anonymity. “I aim for humans to advance, just like I am allowing these dogs to advance — I only let the most intelligent marry each other and the strongest marry each other.” On the outskirts of Beirut down a winding road off the Hadath highway, an iron gate opens onto a secluded path bordered by agricultural land. Yet the organically grown plots, the picturesque greenery and the peaceful ambiance camouflage a farm of another kind: This is doggie boot camp. A seemingly abandoned building at the end of the path houses dogs enrolled in a rigorous training regimen, and on the other side of the clearing, leafy fichus trees shade a