SUICIDE BOMBER AT A ‘DOG EVENT’

‘Explosion at Afghan dog event kills at least 80’

For some reason when I read the headline about this on the USA Today news on-line this morning, I immediately thought ‘I didn’t know they had dog shows in Afghanistan’. Guess the whole ‘Uno’ hype has me thinking that way - and btw isn’t it great that a little ‘all-American’ dog like that won? What a schweetie!

Anyway - turns out that this wasn’t a dog show, it was a dog fight. So then my first reaction was ‘serves them right’ and my second was ‘hope the dogs were all right’.

But it doesn’t serve them right, and the dogs, even if not injured in the blast, will not be all right.

No one deserves to die this way, no matter how much we don’t like what they are doing.

And the dogs will not be all right ever, if they are trained to fight - at least not when they are in a place that condones and encourages dog fighting, as it seems they are.

The story reports: “Dog fighting competitions are a popular form of entertainment around Afghanistan. The fights can attract hundreds of spectators who cram into a tight circle around the spectacle. The sport was banned during the Taliban rule.”

Huh - well, let’s hear it for the Taliban on that count, anyway.

Dog fighting is part of some country’s culture, and part of the culture in some parts of our country. Whoopie Goldberg took a lot of heat for seeming to defend Michael Vick by saying that he grew up where it is an accepted practice. That in no way excuses his dog fighting business, but it is a sad truth. At Camp Katrina we had to walk security at night, after taking care of the animals or being in the city searching and rescuing for 18 hour days, because there were dog thieves in the area trying to steal the pit bulls - any of the dogs - for fighting or bait dogs. Many of the dogs rescued when I was there were pit bulls, hardier dogs that were still alive after a month on the streets. And with few exceptions they were some damn fine dogs, that I would not have minded having as a pet.

We suspected a dog fighting site up a dirt road across from the HSLA shelter. When local law enforcement was told, they gave a half-hearted response, and did nothing.

Tylertown, Mississippi, the year 2005. It is here and it is now and it is everywhere. There have been reports recently, no doubt encouraged by the Michael Vick publicity, of suspected dog fighting in my area, upstate New York. If nothing else, maybe the publicity generated by that case will help make people more aware.

Here’s What I Think: once again, everyone needs to be aware, and to do something. If you suspect dog fighting - or any other kind of animal abuse - tell authorities. If everyone does something, something can be done. It is a horrible excuse for a sport. Personally, I think anyone having anything to do with it should be made to go a round with a trained fighting dog, but I suppose that’s against our ‘civilized’ methods of punishment. Then again, I’m the one who thinks that child molesters should be tied up - naked - in a pen full of week-old calves. Yeah, think about it. I like it.