I want to propose a new law: No pit bull or other dog bred or conditioned for dog fighting can be killed without a behavioral and medical evaluation by a qualified person or organization experienced with the rehabilitation of these kinds of dogs. If such qualified person or organization deems the dog to be treatable, he or she must be made available to a qualified rehabilitation or sanctuary organization for care, treatment, rehoming/sanctuary. Only if the dog is deemed to be untreatable, or no such group can/will take the dog, can he or she be killed.
I'm normally against legislative "fixes," but I'm beyond done with the outdated, inhumane, and wrong-headed policy of slaughtering all dogs "saved" from dog fighting situations -- down to puppies born after the bust, puppies taken away from their foster homes to be killed, as was just done in Wilkes County, North Carolina to 145 dogs "saved" from a fighting ring.
And our friends at the Humane Society of the United States? I'm done with you, too, until you rescind your stated support for the slaughter of these dogs. It's been proven with thousands of dogs already, most famously with Michael Vick's rehabbed fighters, that these dogs can and must be evaluated individually, and you will have no credibility with me or anyone else with two functioning brain cells and a drop of compassion until you say: We thought we were right, but we were wrong. Pit bulls deserve a chance, like any other dog.
Either that, or "humane" clearly does not mean what I always thought it did.
More here, from Gina Spadafori at Pet Connection, who also links to some prime rantage on the subject from Nathan Winograd, as well as from Best Friends Animal Society (who have given lifetime sanctuary to some of the Vick pit bulls), and the brave, good folks at BAD RAP -- from whom I snagged that photo of one of the vicious irredeemable fighting dogs slaughtered in Wilkes County.
Yes, some good stuff going on in the comments on Pet Connection. I really think a march on Washington D.C. sounds do-able. I've started thinking of slogans for signs already
What do you think of:
"Euthanasia" Stops a Beating Heart
and
"It's a quadruped not a a choice"
Posted by: Lori | 20 February 2009 at 12:19 PM
Very good slogans, Lori! This is just sickening. Isn't it fascinating that the HSUS sponsors the Genesis Awards, coming up soon, for news coverage of animal issues, and whole gobs of the nominations this year are for stories about the Vick dogs? I subscribe to Wayne Pacelle's blog, and it seems like there's Wayne, hanging out by himself saying cool stuff, and then there are huge numbers of people working for his organization who are completely oblivious to any of the advances in thinking about animals made in the last 50 years or so. (I met his Midwest Regional Director a couple of times. She's the former head of a high kill shelter and a breeder of Bernese Mountain Dogs. Perfect, huh?)
Of course, here in Minnesota, the largest shelter system in town "rescued" 130 cats from a hoarder. Although the cats were actually in pretty good shape and people were lining up to help, they killed them that evening, as soon as the TV cameras left the building. All of them. I bet HSUS would have recommended that, too.
Posted by: pitbull friend | 23 February 2009 at 08:31 PM
never forget
http://network.bestfriends.org/stopbsl/news/32425.html
Posted by: EmilyS | 24 February 2009 at 07:17 PM