U.S. Dog-Fighting Rings Stealing Pets for "Bait"

National Geographic News ^ | February 18, 2004 | Maryann Mott

[ZULU]

"Libertarian U.S. House candidate Stephanie "Vs. The Machine" Sailor "

Gasp!!! My dream woman!!!!

[jim macomber]

"Our inner cities are a mess. A total disgrace. The end result of YEARS of failed liberal policies, of encourging reproduction out of marriage, of absentee parents, of children raising children"

I guess it takes a particular chutzpah to quote oneself but there's a sentence I wrote in "Art & Part" that referred to a couple of 'lost youths" in Amsterdam as, "the end product of a system that confused freedom with the absence of restraint."

[freeeee]

Lowlives and creeps are found in every race, and none of them has a monopoly on stupidity or cruelty.

I agree. And I'd add "religious belief" and many other characteristics to that list.

And I defy you to prove that there is NOT a direct connection between the secularization and atheization of our society and MOSt of our social problems.

Are you claiming atheists are inherent animal abusers, and theists are incapable of such?

[freeeee]

Yes, she's amazing!

[Slings and Arrows]

I do not doubt that anything you say is true, particularly that dogfighters exist and are a menace. The sole point of my skepticism was the numbers coming from HSUS - an unverifiable statistic from an unreliable source. The actual numbers could be less, or could be greater - I'm simply not going to take HSUS's word on it. I'd love to see hard stats from a reliable source.

[Slings and Arrows]

You got that right. A good friend of mine left our local SPCA and went to the Dark Side.

My sympathy.

In the Houston area there are 3 - 4 big dog fighting bust a year. I don't know how accurate the numbers are, but if you include spectators/gamblers, it could be that high.

Noted. I certainly don't doubt the problem exists and is nontrivial; I just don't trust HSUS and their I-Pulled-It-Out-Of-My-*** Method of Statistical Analysis.

[Slings and Arrows]

I blame the upbringing of these monsters. It almost always points to the parenting...or lack of.

No doubt, but there comes an age when they have to take responsibility for their actions.

G-d will judge their souls; I'd just like to arrange the meeting.

[Rainmist]

My new next-door neighbor has a beautiful dog, looks to be part Husky with black rings around her eyes. I began befriending her ( the dog ) about a month after they moved in, and she would want to come to the fence but her instincts said no. She would stand there and tuck her tail so hard that she would be contorted, and she would actually pee herself !!! The urinating really disturbed me. She finally gave in to me after I bought her some treats. Now when I go in the back yard I pretend to ignore her, and she starts to howl and whine as if to say, " Here I am, over here !! ". She's a sweetheart and, if you ask me, neglected to a point. I hate seeing any animal hurt or neglected. I'd sure like to buy a .357 and go hunting for missing dogs in that town.

[vetvetdoug]

There is a correlation between the incidence of gang related violence and the increase in dog-fighting IMHO. I started noticing missing pets increasing when there became an increase in the numbers of minority drug dealers and addicts. This has been going on for greater than four years in this area. Mentioning it to the Police Department or Sheriff's department will be at one's peril. This act of stealing pets for "bait" is commonplace. Profiling and law enforcement will be the only way to break the cycle.

[Muzzle_em]

Those puppies are so PRECIOUS!

[Muzzle_em]

HOPEFULLY, she is an older puppy and that is the explanation for her peeing on herself. I have a beautiful lab who was never abused, yet she behaved the same way when we first got her- around 9 months old. We got her from someone we know well. She would get very excited when we arrived home from work, but would way her tail only tenatively and pee all over everything! She is now 9 years old and VERY social to everyone.

[najida]

Some folks jez need a killin'.

[Xenalyte]

let's just say a pissed off, pet-loving woman with a gun (and probably PMS) would be the worst thing they'd want to deal with.

The hell with the gun. That's why we have teeth and nails. A gunshot could maybe kill him fast!

[rintense]

Yeah, I'm learning some good stuff in martial arts. Mess with them a bit, then just say, 'oh hell with it', pull out the gun and BOOM!

[ZULU]

No.

What I am stating is that people, MOST people, need a standard of behavior and ethics to follow and guide them in their lives. Some atheists are capable of structuring their lives without a formal code of behavior and living like decent human beings. Some so-called "Christians" are not.

Most human beings do not fall into the former category. Most human beings require some code of behavior and ethics to guide them and teach them respect for themselves and others. Christianity provides that. So does Judaism, Buddhism and a number of other belief systems - some of them God oriented and some not (Stoicism comes to mind - but most inner city youths and young people today would not read or understand Marcus Aurelius)

Freedom is NOT license and license is where our youth are headed without a system of guidelines and restraints emphasizing self-respect, honor and respect for others, including other living non-human creatures.

[ZULU]

"I'd love to see hard stats from a reliable source."

Agreed. But whatever the source OR numbers, I'm confident they are more than should be tolerated.

[Xenalyte]

The Dread Boston Salty was in finishing school (okay, it was really more like boot camp) for two weeks around Christmas. When we got him home, he had lost a little weight, and was exhausted and didn't sleep well for two nights - instead of breathing deeply and regularly, as usual, his breathing was shallow and short, almost a whimper. We stayed up very late rocking him to sleep those nights.

The second day, I thought he'd been abused and not well fed. I had two nights of revenge fantasies: figuring out who abused my dog, grabbing him, tossing him in the trunk of my car, and taking him to a secure undisclosed location for a loooong leisurely chat with me and Mr. Katana.

I figured I was wrong when Salty and I went back for our first people 'n' dog lesson the next week, and he couldn't get in the door fast enough and jumped all OVER the trainers with his little tail wagging so hard, he almost took off.

He was just way tired from working out (up to 10 times a day for 15 minutes at a time) and playing with all the bigger dogs. He's back to his old self, except not quite as sassy. (He still gives me attitude every now and then, just to keep his hand in.)

[Mr. Mojo]

Participating in this "sport" exclusively with one's own dogs is sick enough -- it' a crime, and it should be. But stealing other people's pets - their property - to do it is a much more serious crime that should be punishable by very long and very hard jailtime.

[StoneColdGOP]

Mother...f'ers...

Crucifixion (sp?) is far too kind. If these bastards ever so much as looked at my dog like it was a pawn for sport then I'd have them praying for death.

[Sally'sConcerns]

I'm getting the red X in the thread but I copied the url and looked at your cuties! They're adorable.

Here's the link to a picture of mine as a pup. He was wandering around in the middle of the street and my ex-sister-in-law nearly ran over him. She picked him up and brought him home to me.

http://www.somethingleet.com/forum/gallery/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=2