“His face is a mass of deep cuts, as are his shoulders and neck. Both of his front legs have been broken, but Billy Bear isn’t ready to quit. At the referee’s signal, his master releases him, and unable to support himself on his front legs, he slides on his chest across the blood and urine stained carpet, propelled by his good hind legs, toward the opponent who rushes to meet him. Driven by instinct, intensive training and love for the owner who has brought him to this moment, Billy Bear drives himself painfully into the other dog’s charge... Less than 20 minutes later, rendered useless by the other dog, Billy Bear lies spent beside his master, his stomach constricted with pain. He turns his head back toward the ring, his eyes glazed (sic) searching for a last look at the other dog as (sic) receives a bullet in his brain.”
I felt that this quote was an excellent way of describing the pain and and sorrow the dog has, but at the same time the dog has no choice but to listen his master and fight for his or her life. The first victims in all these dog fighting cases are undoubtedlythe dogs. Most of these dogs that are involved with urban underground dog fighting are extremely hard to track down by the police because none of them are licensed and can be bought on the street for a few hundred dollars. The owners of the dogs may have a love or connection with the animal, but obviously not the right kind of love. Most dog fighting owners see their dogs as disposable since once they are injured they're considered worthless.
The next victim in this case is the children. When children are exposed to dog fighting at such a young age they are desensitized and scarred for life if things don't change quick. Most of the children who are interacting with dog fights are children from cities with high crime rate. These high crime cities have a lot of gang related activity which tends to attract dog fighting as a way of life. The children of the these cities don't have the proper role models to look up after so they are challenged at a young age to deal adversity and making the right decision. "Dogs aren’t the only victims. Primary and middle-school aged kids are commonly invited to watch and even partake in dog fighting activities. It’s “sold” as a “sport,” no different than watching a football game. Of course, it is very different. Gangbangers actually realize that watching the horrific events of a dogfight desensitizes kids to violence."
http://www.stevedalepetworld.com/content/view/277/71/
http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ddusdogfighting.htm
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerful opening. I have had two dogs, both pitts, that I have adopted. The first had undergone major reconstructive surgery to her head before I adopted her (from an "unknown trauma source", suspected fighting). The second dog I adopted has scars along the side of her face from suspected "fight training"; she is still a pup, she was 1 when I adopted her last spring. I have an extremely low tolerance for someone who can treat an animal with such indifference. It is also sad that children are brought and conditioned into the same lack of humanity to perpetuate the same egregious acts. I think this is an important topic to be discussed as I do not think there can ever be enough awareness until the practice is discontinued altogether. I am glad that you have chosen to speak about dog fighting, I think you should definitely continue (I will probably not comment any further on your posts, but please understand that it is not due to my lack of support, but rather, an already abundant list of things that keep me up at night.) Thank you again for speaking out against these atrocities.
ReplyDelete