I'm depressed. In that thoroughly fed up, the world's a bad place, kind of depressed way. And why am I feeling so blue? Because ever since the death of the little girl in Liverpool, the news is full of bad stories about dogs. (And that's not to diminish the death of a child.)
Dogs that have been seized. Dogs that have been handed in under an amnesty. Illegal dogs for sale. So-called " legal" dogs (but they SO aren't) for sale but advertised in dodgy places. Dogs that have attacked. Dogs that might attack. And everyone has plenty to say about the Dangerous Dogs Act, which seems, across the board, to satisfy no one. The one thing that all these stories have in common is the way that the dogs have been treated by their owners. And it's thoroughly depressing for the victims - human and canine.
And today it's the dog fighting that has got me down. There have been quite a few reports about the latest number of dogs seized...here's a taster from The Independent:
"The bedroom in the council house in Essex was carefully converted to allow the men to watch their pets rip each other apart.
A door leading into the box room had the top half cut off so that the pit bulls could be videoed fighting.
After each session, the bottom of the bedroom walls were repainted a dark blue to hide the stains left by the bleeding dogs.
This was the scene that greeted RSPCA officers during one of their investigations into dog fights. They were in action again yesterday when they helped police to seize at least 13 pit bull terriers from properties in Stourbridge, West Midlands, following a tip-off that the dogs were being used in fights."
And it continues...
"Mike James, who said he left the pit bull fighting scene about five years ago, said the rules of combat have disappeared since the early to mid-1990s, when 20 fights would be staged each month. Once, the dogs would be matched by weight and examined by a vet who would remain in attendance, along with a referee, said Mr James - not his real name. He said the "gangsters" involved in the game now "scatterbreed" the dogs: mate fighting dogs with pure pit bulls to create powerful new breeds. "Dogs will be strapped to a treadmill for half an hour or placed on an electric one so they can't slow down," he said.
He said that the stakes can be high - as much as £10,000 - and the consequences for the creatures involved can be grim: jaws left hanging off or dislocated, puncture marks to the face and, in some cases, death in the "ring".
Chief Inspector Ian Briggs, of the RSPCA's special operations unit, said: "The Dangerous Dogs Act initially had an effect on the number of animals, but over the past few years there has been a big increase in the number of pit bulls."
He said despite a crack down on "premier league" dog fighters, and a series of successful prosecutions, there were still about 100 "hard core" fighters. "It is an obsession for them, they travel the length and breath of the country to take part in an organised fight," he said. The biggest expansion had been in what he described as "tier two" dog fighters, of which there are hundreds. "These are young hoody men who keep pit bulls as a macho symbol."
The police and RSPCA have been targeting the second tier of fighters in Merseyside during the past week. Thirteen people were arrested and 28 dogs were seized at 16 addresses in Huyton and Stockbridge Village, Knowsley.
The total number of suspected pit bulls seized in Merseyside since Ellie's death now stands at 56.
It's just so utterly depressing, don't you think?
If people want to aspire to be fighters, let them. But leave the dogs out of it. Sadly, it's way too late for such a wish.
Woof Woof
