Yes there is hysteria about dog fights at the moment but dog thefts are very real at present. I work for the police and we take many calls regarding dogs being stolen, when we ask about tag marks on fences, letter boxes etc we get answers back from people with tags such as "oh there is a spray painted blue dot on my fence, or a ribbon tied to my letter box, or even I had a council worker come round doing a survey on my dogs the other day" certain areas seem to be a target along with breeds, what they are stealing them for we can't say for sure. Some and only some have been taken for dog fights as my friend had her dead dog dumped back in her front yard 2 weeks after it had been stolen and the poor thing had been mauled. She found a blue ribbon on her back fence but thought nothing of it and left it. I still don't think people need to go into a severe panic over it however be vigilant as stated by other people. If you do notice anything ring the police and at least have an intel report put on, for people with Policelink in their states ring the 131444 number. A lot of it is copycat hoax but some of it isn't.