Amr says his family had to give away their pet dog after Hassan's guards threatened to kill it if it didn't stop barking.

He was a part of his son's anarchic corner on fight night, barking instructions as his voice drowned out head trainer SugarHill Steward.

From the road one recent morning, black and white Labradors could be seen romping about inside pens, excitedly barking and wagging tails.

Fires charred their bark, droughts forced them to ration water, and invasive beetles — some brought to Southern California via firewood — bored into them.

You see tiny sprouts inching out of fallen trunks, head-high green shoots overshadowing charred remnants and towering old trees whose branches are greening again, despite jet-black charred bark below.