Reefer Madness.....Animal Welfare Style

[NOTE: Please read disclaimer* at the end of this post.]

Dear Animal Rescuers:

If someone tells you he/she wants to adopt a pit bull from your shelter or rescue, you must take EXTRA precaution. Why? Because CRIMINALS are out there (in the trees?) waiting to get their hands on our dogs. It's up to you, animal shelters and rescues, to protect the pit bulls from these dogfighters, who are lurking in the parking lots and at adoption events just ITCHING to get their hands on the dogs.

They are going to use them for fighting. The shelters'/rescues' websites even said so: pit bulls were historically bred and continue to be bred primarily for fighting. Or maybe as bait? Oh, those bait dogs....I saw 87 posts on Facebook yesterday of bait dogs in shelters. They're everywhere. Haven't you seen them? They're the pit bulls with scars. Or other wounds. Or just shy. EVERYWHERE!

DANGER!

If we're not EXTRA careful, the homeless pit bulls waiting in shelters or rescue groups will fall into the hands of these violent criminals. We MUST screen our pit bull adopters FBI-style to catch them in the act. Pull out all the tricks: home checks, criminal background checks, photographic evidence of their so-called "homes." They may present as nice people (and their veterinarians and employers may claim they're upstanding citizens), but have you actually LOOKED in their closets? Who knows what you might find.....rape stands, steroids, fight records. Don't let your guard down.

No one is safe. Just look at the news.

In my hometown of Philadelphia this week, a pit bull dog from a dogfighting ring was hung from a tree and left for dead.

Not surprising, right? Because Philly is the dogfighting capital. Of the universe. Animal Planet told me so. (Or was it Chicago? Or Los Angeles? Shoot, I can't remember....)

It's sick what people will do to these dogs if we -- if YOU! -- don't protect them! You know, keep them out of "the wrong hands" and all.

Just look at what will happen.......

"A Man Discovered What Appeared to Be a Small Pit Bull Hanging From a Tree in Philadelphia"


But wait, what's that??? The media spoke too soon??? We're not actually sure what breed of dog it was???


Well certainly it MUST have been a pit bull, right? Of course it was!

And obviously it was part of a dogfighting ring!

I bet it was a bait dog.....definitely a bait dog. You know what? I bet Michael Vick was behind this.

Oh, shoot. There's more? The PSPCA did a necropsy on the fighting pit bull? And they determined it was......

A RACCOON???????

(Click on photo for full story - and note the highlighted parts)


But....but.....but.....certainly this had SOMETHING to do with dogfighting, right?

Let's ask an "expert" -- someone who works at an animal shelter:

(Again, click on photo for full story)


Huh.

So a dead raccoon turns up in a tree in Philadelphia, and the people in Cumberland County, New Jersey -- a town located over an hour from Philly -- are put on high alert for dogfighting?

And better yet, the Cumberland SPCA is faced with a "pervasive problem" of pit bulls who were "continually bred to bring out their worst traits".....as evidenced from the dead raccoon found hanging from a tree in another state?

As a pit bull dog who actually did spend the first 14 years of my life with a convicted animal abuser, I'm constantly amazed that any of us make it out of animal shelters/rescues alive. With all the tall tales the "dog advocates" spin about us, quite frankly I'm afraid I'm going to attack myself in my sleep.

Or if I don't, my owners certainly will.

After all, they never had a "home check" (!).

From,

Sarge the Elderbull

*In case you can't tell, the Sarge-ster is being sarcastic. But seriously, humans, can you please stop it with the hysteria? We dogs deserve better than fear-based approaches to "saving" us. Thank you.