By Neil Trent
In May 2004, representatives from assorted Caribbean nations met for a conference on animal welfare on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix. The gathering covered a broad range of issues, but participants kept coming back to single theme: blood sports.
Earlier that month, a St. Croix man had gone berserk and gunned down his girlfriend, their 6-week-old son, and his brother. The crime touched off much soul searching in a part of the world known for sprawling beaches, not brazen acts of violence. What had caused the reportedly affable firefighter with no known criminal history to snap?
Everyone seemed to have a theory, but one detail of the killer's life caught the attention of the animal protection community: The man kept fighting cocks in his backyard and apparently was quite an enthusiast of the vicious "sport."
Profiles of serial killers and high school shooters are rife with accounts of how these sociopaths got their first taste of violence torturing the family pet. Criminologists tell us that when a troubled youth gets away with harming an animal, he experiences an intoxicating sense of power that can lead him to strike again and again—ultimately graduating to human victims. Conversely, the child who treats animals humanely exhibits core behaviors that generally carry over to his relationship with people.
The Humane Society of the United States has developed an educational campaign that helps local animal protection agencies, social workers, educators and law enforcement officials recognize signs of animal abuse, and flag potential offenders before the damage is done. Early intervention is key. By being proactive and collaborative, our First Strike® campaign reduces community violence, protects defenseless creatures, and may help prevent future Columbines.
Animal Abuse: A Dehumanizing Practice
Unfortunately, there are many insidious forms of violence towards animals, each of which undermines efforts to foster a more humane world. The giant factory farms that provide meat and dairy products for our tables are notorious for their cruel conditions, an institutional form of animal abuse that possibly dehumanizes us in ways we don't even recognize. Across the globe the dark side of human nature also manifests itself in pageants of death otherwise known as blood sports. Animals are thrown into mortal combat, literally forced to "kill or be killed" in order to satisfy spectators' blood lust and greed.
Just because animal fighting is tolerated—even celebrated—does not make these sorry spectacles any less debasing to communities. Banned in many places, blood sports still rear their vicious heads in countries rich and poor. The United States has had considerable success in legislating animal fighting into the margins of society, forcing most operators to try to tiptoe around law enforcement. Their acts of defiance are increasingly met with less acceptance, even in states where animal fighting has a long history.
By contrast, dog fighting and cockfighting are veritable growth industries in some countries. Mongolia, for example, has witnessed a boom in canine fights: Clubs are cropping up in several cities, not to mention one super-sized annual tournament that condemns some 200 innocent dogs to death or injury for the pleasure of a betting public. A similar appetite for cockfighting abides throughout Asia, Latin America, and beyond.
These barbaric pastimes generally don't qualify as news unless a child has been attacked by a dog bred to be a killing machine. Indeed, because of their bad reputations, pit bulls are banned in Germany, the United Kingdom and some cities in the United States. But it isn't the breed that's the problem—it's mostly the way the animal has been raised and socialized.
Before fights, the dogs are routinely chained up, starved, and beaten to render them "game" for a brawl. The ordeal inside the ring quickly becomes a matter of life and death. The dogs inflict tremendous damage with their powerful jaws, crushing bones, stripping away tendons, and tearing gaping holes into their opponent's flesh. Who wins? Perhaps the fan who quadruples his money, or the owners and trainers who strut about as if they were the great warriors.
"These dogs get taken and thrown together and they must maul each [other] for 45 minutes without a break. And it's for the ego of the owner," a reformed South African "dog man" told the investigative news program Carte Blanche.
Given their appeal to the basest instincts, blood sports not surprisingly attract the roughest elements of society. In Russia, Mafia types got their hands on top-of-the-line American pit bull terriers and started breeding them for fighting. The fights are illegal "but police have been known to show up and watch the brutal phenomenon for their own entertainment," according to a CNN report. A similar situation exists in Italy where the Neapolitan Mafia came to preside over the sordid underworld of dog fighting, a nearly billion-dollar enterprise involving some 15,000 dogs, according to the BBC in 2003.
Getting Tough on Animal Fighting
Last summer, Italian lawmakers enacted tough new legislation making the organizing of dog fights a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to nearly $200,000. Such measures are an important step in the right direction. But if they are not backed up with a budget and significant enforcement, they're just paper.
In the United States, dog fighting is felony in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. It's a crime all 50. Cockfighting, too, is almost universally outlawed, with some notable exceptions. U.S. territories such as the Virgin Islands have been slower to get with the program, even though dog fighting is currently a felony there. However, important progress is afoot.
In St. Croix, where our story began, the issue of violence has been much on people's minds since the gruesome murders in May.
"[W]e have the responsibility to learn to live together in a social and civilized way in spite of our differences of opinion and outlook," said David Jones, president of the Virgin Islands Senate, at the time.
An opportunity to elevate society on the islands presented itself in August when a Senate panel considered a bill to increase penalties for animal cruelty. Prior to the vote, Joe Aubain, president of the Humane Society of St. Thomas, addressed lawmakers directly: "Senators, we want to put an end to animal abuse and cruelty, and in doing so, hopefully reduce the incidence of violence towards women and children," he said.
According to the St. Croix Source newspaper, the committee approved the bill unanimously, clearing a key hurdle in the legislative process. The bad news was that the bill exempted cockfighting, which continues to be defended as a "cultural practice" on the islands.
That same argument has been used for decades in the United States to defend cockfighting, but the blood sport's existence is definitely on life support here. We can only assume it's a matter of time before the rest of the world pulls the plug on animal fighting, too.
