Dogfighters Go Underground

Yesterday, CNN reported that dogfighters are getting creative. They’re finding new ways to hide their practices, and they’re carrying out dogfights in on-the-move 18-wheelers to avoid being caught. According to the story, some of the abuses detectives have uncovered in this ongoing investigation include: dogs with missing ears and patches of skin; animals with teeth shaved down to the bone; and contraptions, much like treadmills, that force chained dogs to run or be choked.

One of six dogs rescued from a Sumter County, South Carolina, dogfight waits in a kennel last week. Image courtesy CNN/WACH TV

In one case in Ohio, the story says, “A neighbor called police when she saw a mangled dog that had apparently escaped from a home where investigators found 60 chained pit bull terriers, many being starved and wallowing in their own waste. There were thousands of hypodermic needles scattered across the ground. ‘They were using steroids on the animals,’ he said. ‘There was one dog—in such bad shape, man—tethered to a logging chain, and another was kept in a two-foot shed without ventilation or food.’ The suffering is incalculable, and the cost of caring for the animals is steep.”

To read the full story, click here.

What is it that I’m not getting about the appeal of this so-called sport? Am I incredibly naïve in wondering WTF makes people get off on watching this? There is something seriously wrong when people don’t get basic compassion. There is something seriously wrong when a football team will sign a man who engaged in this and profited from it for years. I really, really just don’t understand.