| The media on the Michael Vick case is shockingly widespread. I haven't really done much to comment on it or anything professionally to ride that wave because my work is in farmed animal law. My dad suggested that I use this publicity to make the connection between abuse of dogs - which people care about - and the abuse of farmed animals - which are in no measurable or relevant way different from dogs - which people seem not to care about. I think that's a good idea, but I haven't really had a chance to institute that professionally, aside from my usual argument and appraoch to litigation that we should use animal cruelty laws which have in recent history been enforced for dogs and cats and use them against the worst widespread abuses to farmed animals that happen on a daily basis. Which is a little too abstract to parlay the Vick case for. But another reason I haven't really entered into the fray of this is because dog fighting has always been the thing that hits me the hardest emotionally. I have this insane affection for pit bulls, who I think are abused because they are so good natured. So I was happy to read this article in Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/08/20/pit_bulls/index.html. To read it you have to watch an ad, but it's short. I commented on the article, and I'm posting it here because I feel like my letters basically represent my definitive view on the subject, and this is what I would be doing if I wasn't doing farmed animal law. So here are my thoughts: Thank you[Read the article: Pit bulls are innocent]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for writing this article. Pit bull abuse has always been something that has really disturbed me. It's been great to see the publicity surrounding the Michael Vick case, but it's important to stress the message that these dogs are not only victims of abuse - in numbers that are far higher and in more places than many of Salon's readership demographic would guess or believe - but they are truly wonderful dogs. So many Americans have a strong love and affection for dogs, but seem to have a blind spot for pits. I agree with the author's musing at the end that there's somethinng about the dog's loyalty that makes it the target of the exploitation. There's an explanation for that. These dogs were bred to fight other dogs and not to back down because of pain. Humans had to reach into the ring to pull the dogs out and generally handle the dogs during these highly violent rounds of fighting. Dogs that bit humans during times of immense stress and pain were killed. This is the irony of the "genes" argument agains pits: the dogs were bred to be especially, irrationally, unconditionally nice to humans regardless of the brutality and cruelty inflicted upon them, often at the hands of those same humans! Yes, pits can be dog-aggressive (although they are not always this way; a discussion on the nuances of that could fill up another article). Aggression toward other dogs is a completely different trait than aggression toward people, and in no other breed is it more pronounced than in pits - bred to be very dog-aggressive, and very NON-aggressive toward people. Add that to the loyalty this author and other commenters point out, and their willingness to persevere in that loyalty and trust even when in severe pain, and you have a formula for a dog that's easy to abuse. Exploiting the best, sweetest traits in a dog for the purpose of brutality and violence to that dog is something that's always really struck me as sad, tragic. And it says horrific things about the humans that inflict that violence. On top of that, these dogs are ignored, vilified even, while they are abused and waste away in shelters at alarming numbers, hoping for another shot at a decent life that so few of them get. When you know a pit or pit mix and can see those traits of loyalty, gentleness, affection, and that goofiness and love of life they have, you can see why people are so passionate about these animals and why it's such an injustice that so many people hate or fear them. When I see my dog or other pits/mixes being able to express those traits in a good way, thinking of the hundreds of thousands of dogs just like them who have never known a nice touch or gesture just really gets to me. I have had several different breeds/mixes in my life, and the personality my pit mix has far surpasses my other dogs. I hate to say that - like I'm choosing between my animals, who have all been great dogs, but many other people also feel that way about my pit mix; he charms his way into the favorite spot. I bring him to work, parks, on vacations, and just about anywhere I'm allowed to take him. I can't imagine how his life and my life might have been different had I not adopted him. So thank you again for this article, and for treating these dogs with the compassion they deserve. They are the most abused, most neglected, and the ones that languish the longest and with the least chance at shelters. I hope people start giving more of these dogs the second chance they deserve. |
