Dog fighting is horrendous and the consequences have far to go.
I am too often surprised when I randomly ask people if they know about dog fighting. I get quizzical looks even from loving dog owners, though not too many blank stares from those who rescue and own the most misunderstood and demonized dogs on the planet, who are also the primary victims of this appalling “sport” – the pitbull.
Forcing dogs to live unbelievably despicable and tortured lives so they will literally tear each other apart in a ring where depraved individuals illegally wager on the winner, is inhumane and frankly, a disgrace to our collective humanity.
Dog fighting is the ultimate epitome of that which we fight against every day in our legal battles for the rights of companion animals – that dogs are wrongfully still treated as disposable personal property under the law. Thankfully however, federal and state laws make the acts of raising, breeding, training and engaging in dog fighting a crime. See link below on the recent federal sentencing of a large dog fighting ring operator out of Georgia.
But to illustrate how far we have yet to go, the maximum penalty under federal law for brutally killing dogs so people can bet on the winner is five years in jail. People who don’t pay their federal taxes face the same maximum penalty, as do folks in Connecticut alone who possess a forged instrument, issue a bad check for more than $1,000 or impersonate a police officer.
But dogs under the law are just somebody’s personal property to almost do with as they please, unless they bet on torturing them, and then it is still the same penalty as if they had just bounced a check. And therein lies the heart of the problem, that of having the law fully recognize the inherent value and consequently the fundamental rights of these animals.
I am thankful for law enforcement everywhere which prosecutes these crimes, and I hope they will someday have sentencing laws at their disposal to better eradicate the horrific treatment of these innocent creatures. https://www.justice.gov/…/georgia-dog-fighting-trainer…
