"Fighting Dogs Now Being Trained To Love" by Hannah Kilpatrick

Summary:

917, an 8-week-old puppy, was one of 371 dogs seized by federal and state authorities last month in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas in what is said to be the second largest dogfighting ring in the United States. This puppy doesn’t even have a name yet, only a number and was being kept in treacherous conditions. The dogs were placed in the care of the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States. Not only are the dogs getting medical treatment for malnourishment and injuries sustained while fighting, Bershadker said the canines are also getting “a personal behavior modification enrichment plan to maximize each dog’s opportunity to be placed in a home.” Their goal is to turn these fighting dogs into animals that can be pets or serve as rescue and rehabilitation animals. If these dogs had not been rescued they would have become typical dogs bred to fight. Some of the fights would bring in as much as $200,000. The animals are trained by lifting heavy chains for a few months before they are put into “the keep”, which is an intensive training program before its first fight. Eventually, the dog is putting into the “fighting pit” for a test fight or “the show” which is a fight in front of spectators. “Those fights can last 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, even three hours,” Bershadker said “That’s where the physical wounds are sustained.” Authorities arrested 12 people who have all pled not guilty and if convicted they could face up to 15 years in prison. While these dogs may have been saved from a life of torture, the ASPCA estimates that there are 40,000 dogfighters in the United States who are putting hundreds of thousands of animals through the brutal training to become fighting dogs.

Analysis:

First of all, I absolutely adore animals so reading this article really touched me. Actually, just earlier this month my mom and I were driving down the highway when a truck passed by us and attached to the back of it was two dog cages on top of each other each with a dog in it. I remember pointing it out to my mom because I had never seen something like it before and she told me that they were probably fighting dogs. I remember they were just sitting there, their eyes and ears droopy, looking so unhappy. At the time I didn’t really know much about how the dogfighting rings work, so when my mom told me I was shocked. I’m so glad that they have rescued these poor dogs and I hope that they will all be able to recover, be given names, and finally be adopted by people who will love them. No animal deserves to be treated the way that these dogs have and I find it ridiculous that people torture animals for entertainment. It’s sad to know that this is still going on though, even as we speak. I just hope that the 371 dogs that they rescued will soon find good homes where they are loved and cared for.

Here is the link to my article:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/14/us/dog-fight-rehabilitation/index.html?hpt=ju_t5