Dog Fighting? Good God Almighty.

[Foofoogal]

I enjoy watching boxing

I detest boxing personally as I have a brother who is basically now an alzheimer's patient due to so many hits in the head as a professional boxer. Once upon a time he had a genius iq. Seriously. Now my family struggles and fights about what to do with him.
http://menshealth.about.com/od/fitness/a/boxing.htm

90% suffer brain damage of some kind. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Feng_Li]

He hasn’t been convicted, he’s innocent until proven other wise, and lets remember Duke Lacrosse team.

Seconded. As bad as it is to wind up in judicial court, the court of public opinion is even worse.

 

[Story]

Professional Sports = Pax Americana's Circus Maximus

Are you not amused?

 

[dhermann1]

Killing

I think an important distinction needs to be made about killing. Killing for food is necessary. Some people may think that we can be healthy on a totally vegan diet, but most medical authorities will disagree with that. But if we do kill, it's possible to do it in a relatively humane manner. Killing animals for luxury items, like fur (including beaver pelts for hats!) is of another order, less justifiable. But if done in a "cruelty free" manner, you can still make a case for it. Killing, or causing animals to be killed, purely for pleasure, for the vicarious thrill, is utterly depraved and monstrous, regardless of what level species it is. I certainly get less upset over Siamese fighting fish, or even game cocks, than dogs, but the basic fact is, people are deriving emotional pleasure from witnessing killing. This is why this crime is so much more upsetting, and indicates a more dangerous mentality at work, than other types of animal exploitation.
I consider Michael Vick to be a dangerous sociopath. He should be locked up.

 

[Rooster]

With out the gambling that goes with dogfights, they would never take place. Gambling is what it's all really about.

 

[dhermann1]

No, getting pleasure from killing is what it's all about. The gambling just provides a way to make it pay.

 

[Viola]

Seriously, if all you want to do is gamble, there's football, lottery tickets, slot-machines, and cheating on your taxes. Dog-fighting is as much about blood-lust as anything.

-Viola

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Some people may think that we can be healthy on a totally vegan diet, but most medical authorities will disagree with that.

(I know this was just an off-the-cuff remark, but that is not precisely true. Ok, I go now.)

 

[Rooster]

No, getting pleasure from killing is what it's all about. The gambling just provides a way to make it pay.

I personally know dozens of cockfighters. If gambling was not allowed the sport would end immediatly. It's just like playing poker with out money.

 

[Viola]

I personally know dozens of cockfighters. If gambling was not allowed the sport would end immediatly. It's just like playing poker with out money.

Then why don't they just play poker? Cards are cheaper to buy and require less care. Somebody's getting something out of the blood.

-Viola

 

[Rooster]

Then why don't they just play poker? Cards are cheaper to buy and require less care. Somebody's getting something out of the blood.

-Viola

They are getting the satisfaction of breeding champion birds. Champion birds win big money and can be sold for big money. Money makes the world go round. Cockfighters and there birds are very close. Those birds generally get better care than the cockfighters family.
Cockfighting is huge, far bigger than any of you would guess. With the influx of Asians and Hispanics it's growing even larger by leaps and bounds. It's a very ethnic/cultural past time.
All of my exibition birds came from pit bird lines. Nothing like these pit birds for a pugnacious attitude and cocky personality.

 

[Ben]

Dog Fighting and Due process

There is a lot of talk about due process in this thread, but that is a matter for the courts. The NFL, as pointed out, is not bound by this. It also should not be required to wait for the courts to make a decision in order to look out for its own interests.

The Humane Society has the same freedom of speech as everyone else and is free to call on the NFL and the courts to do something. They can talk directly to the NFL and file an amicus brief with the courts.

As someone pointed out, the court of public opinion can be a lot harsher than the legal courts, and that one is probably of more concern to the NFL. It has a right to protect itself and its other players.

Dog fighting itself tends to be more of an urban phenomenon, as near as I can tell. In Chicago warnings go out regularly for people to keep an eye on their pets so they aren't stolen to be training dogs.

I also think that rural people tend to offer more consideration for their animals because they are more a part of their lives and livelihood.

That said, a society can be judged by how it treats its weakest members. And while they are not equal members, animals, including and maybe especially dogs, are members. They have been since the first wolf started hanging around for caveman scraps. How we treat animals does reflect on us.

Dog fighting and cock fighting are cruel. Animals are being forced to do things they wouldn't do in nature except as a matter of survival. Humans can make a choice to enter the ring, animals can't. And they weren't born with razor spurs on their legs.

And to say that cockfighters look after their bird better than their families just shows that there is something warped about their worldview. If they give animals more rights than people, their own flesha nd blood even, and then risk the animals' death for amusement and/or money, then I don't think many people will ever understand their logic.

 

[Paisley]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that many violent criminals have gotten their start being cruel to animals. Of course, most animal abusers probably don't become criminals. Still, compassion is a more endearing trait than the need to whip a dog, either directly or vicariously.

 

[HadleyH]

Okay, let justice take its course, and when the scumbag's found guilty, throw him in a cell and leave him there.

I agree with that! :eusa_clap

 

[HadleyH]

Most of me is opposed to dealing cruelty for cruelty, but part of me says people who do this oughta be horsewhipped. :rage:

and that too!

 

[Fletch]

Hug your doggie Hadley, and banish these awful thoughts.

I'm sitting by my kitty cat right now, watching her expression as she listens to the evening breezes, and it's hard to feel too angry or sad doing that.

 

[HadleyH]

Hug your doggie Hadley, and banish these awful thoughts.

lol lol lol lol i will... oh boy!!!! lol lol

 

[Diamondback]

All I can say is, there are just some really sick puppies out there...

Sorry, but I fail to see the sport in killin'. If you're hunting and gonna use the meat, or killing in self-defense, that's one thing, but...

And my own thought for the pukes who do this stuff would be to invite them to be my sharkin' chums--"chum" not like "buddy", but as in bait. Strictly "catch and release," of course, since I can't eat it!

 

[dr greg]

Bull

and while we're at it, I think bullfighting is pathetic, they damn near kill the thing before the 'matador' goes anywhere near it, mind you I would pay to see it like it was in the old days when it was just one man against one beast, although the Pope banned that practise in the 17th (?) century because the bulls were winning too often and people's worship of the champion beasts was a little too close for comfort where Christians were concerned...or so I read somewhere.

 

[dhermann1]

At least the Spanish acknowledge it for what it is, a blood sport. They also have folk traditions at religious holidays where they throw a live goat off the top of a church steeple, literally a scape goat. The point is it's all barbaric and vicious. I tdon't care what rationalization you give it (especially the "everyone else is doing it" routine) killing animals for pleasure is utterly wrong morally. I would assume that the gambling going on is just as illegal as the fighting.