A sick and wrong event

[Veg]

Does anybody know about "hog-dog rodeos"? It is a barbaric sport where frenzied dogs, usually pit bulls, are turned loose, one or two at a time, in pens to attack wild pigs as onlookers cheer and judges rate dogs by how quickly they take down their prey. To prevent injury to the dogs, the hogs' tusks are often first snapped off with a steel pipe and hammer or with bolt-cutters, rendering these animals completely defenseless.

Hogs often sustain serious injuries during these events, including but not limited to ripped ears and haunches, mangled noses, ruptured scrotums, and other gaping wounds. Sometimes their ears are torn right off.

Considered by some to be "good, wholesome fun," children are also often allowed to gang up on the frightened pigs and chase them around the arena. Plus, in one investigation, they found concession stands that serve snacks and drinks, like it's a fun family event!

Attorneys general in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas have reiterated that these events are in clear violation of state law:

"t appears that these activities would constitute the torture or tormenting of, or cruelty to, animals as proscribed in … Florida Statutes.
-Florida Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth i

"It appears that if the animals are fought, killed, maimed, wounded, injured, tormented or tortured, then the practice would be illegal."
-Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood ii

"'taging' fights between dogs and hogs would constitute an offense under Penal Code section 42.09."
-Texas Assistant Attorney General Rick Gilpin iii

Despite their illegality, laws are too often loosely interpreted by local authorities and rarely enforced. In Clarke County, Alabama, for example, it was not until a local news team (The ones who found out about the concession stands) conducted an undercover investigation and obtained video documentation of a local hog-dog rodeo that authorities were finally compelled to arrest the organizer on cruelty-to-animals charges and shut down the event.

Here is a video clip of the rodeo.
www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=hog_dog_general&Player=wm&speed=_med

Plus some photos.





















Ahem, just wanted to get it off my chest.

[FlameTheCharmander]

Every time I see the word "hog-dog rodeo" my brain puts in "hot-dog rodeo". Heh, heh, Sorry not funny. One of those dogs looked like my dog Sunny, this is sad.

[pitbulllady]

Yes, in fact, I have PARTICIPATED, with my Catahoulas, in what are properly called "catch and tie" contests, as well as "bay trials", and they are NOTHING like what PeTA and the other animal rights groups, with the help of digitally enhanced "videos" and photos(Photoshop, anyone?), would love for you to believe.

First, it is VERY hard to injure a wild hog! They are like armored tanks, with a layer of nearly inpenetrable gristle beneath their skin. I have literally seen bullets bounce off them; that protection is more effective than Kevlar! They are also EXTREMELY aggressive, and very dangerous, even out in the open with no one bothering them. They have been known to attack people, and especially horses, which they seem to despise for some reason, without provocation. They will kill and eat any animal that they can get ahold of. A wild hog can literally rip a dog in half, as efficiently as a chain saw, so blunting the tusks is necessary to protect not just the dogs, but the humans who are in with the hog, and the other hogs, since wild hogs often fight to the death, even in the wild. Males have the highest level of testosterone of any mammal, and that just adds to their aggression.

In a catch and tie contest, each entry consists of one dog, which is trained to catch the hog by the ear. That way, the dog does the minimal amount of damage to the hog and it can control the hog's head, so that the hog cannot bite. Even with the tusks blunted, hogs still have a mouthful of very sharp teeth, and will bite. The contestants have a full EIGHT SECONDS, which is NOT a long time at all, from the moment the dog is released from the time the dog is called off, and during that time the human part of the team must safely tie, and UNTIE, the hog's feet. Eight seconds, and that's it. If the dog cannot be made to release within that time, that team is DQ'd. Points are lost if the dog causes injury to the hog, also, or if the human cannot tie and untie the hog within that span of time. Pit Bulls work best because Pit Bulls have been bred for centuries to catch and hold livestock with a minimum of injuries to the animal. It is easy, though, for anyone with a half-way decent Flash animation program, or even just the aforementioned Photoshop, to create these horrificly gory, bloody scenes that make it look like hogs are being torn apart by dogs, when that is not, in fact, what happens. It's actually very hard for a dog to do serious harm to a wild hog, though the reverse is not true at all. It's also easy to convince people that the hogs are being "tortured" because hogs scream a lot. Hogs will scream if someone walks by with food and doesn't give them any. Hogs will scream they are restrained in any way, shape or form, even briefly for something like a vaccination(yes, you have to vaccinate hogs, too). Hogs will scream if you squirt cold water on ANOTHER hog but not on them. Of course, people who don't know hogs, and didn't grow up around hogs, and probably never even saw a real live hog in their entire lives don't know this, and so they assume that the screams indicate the hog being killed.


Hog-baying trials are usually used for Catahoulas, Black-Mouthed Curs(so-called because they have a blue-black tongue, like a Chow-Chow), and other Cur breeds. In a bay trial, the dog CANNOT grab the hog-if it puts its mouth on the hog for more than five seconds, it automatically DQ'S, and in most organizations, like the NALC(National Association of Louisiana Catahoulas), two DQ's result in a permanent ban on that dog from competing ever again. The dog must corner and control the hog strictly by barking and body language, much as a Border Collie controls a flock of sheep-only with one difference: sheep cannot rip the dog in half if they decide they don't want to be controlled. In bay trials, dogs usually wear "cut vests" over their bodies, and the hogs' tusks are not filed down or blunted, AND in both catch-and-tie contests and bay trials, the dog's handler is in there, too, with NO protection at all. Having hunted wild boars for many years, I cannot stress enough how dangerous these animals are, and people get hurt in these competitions more often than dogs or hogs do.

The purpose of either sort of trial is to determine how fit a dog is for hunting hogs in the swamps and woods. You cannot simply turn dogs loose where wild boars are known to be found and expect a dog to know what to do. The dogs will just get killed that way. Wild hogs are not native to the US; they are a dangerous introduced pest, which destroy native plants and animals at alarming rates, eat crops like nobody's business, attack livestock(especially horses and calves, which they love to eat) and do sometimes go after people. A friend of mine had a herd go after her while she was horseback riding in Francis Marion National Forest several years back, and had to watch in horror from the safety of a tree as her horse was pulled down and ripped apart. Hunting with dogs is the most effective way to control the wild hog population; they are extremely smart and can be very difficult to trap, and they won't eat poison or anything laced with drugs that can be used to control the sows' estrus cycle. Dogs have to be trained and prepared to do this dangerous job.

Many states, including South Carolina, have fallen for the "videos" and passed bans on so-called "hog-dog rodeos", but there is a catch, one that I'm sure the animal rights groups perfectly wanted to be in there: the "intent" clause. That means that IF you have a dog of a breed often used in these events, such as a Pit Bull, American Bulldog, or Catahoula Leopard Dog, you are AUTOMATICALLY GUILTY, since that "proves" your "intent" to participate in these events! If you have a breaking stick(used to pry a stubborn or untrained dog's jaws open to release its grip), or a magazine that mentions hog hunting or hog trials, or even if you keep any wild or feral-type hogs(like the popular Ossabaw or other "mini" pig breeds that people often have as pets), that "proves" your "intent" to use them in hog-catching contests. WITHOUT A COURT TRIAL OR HEARING, ALL of your property, your home, your vehicles, ALL of your money, including CD's, stocks, savings accounts, checking accounts, etc., CAN BE SEIZED and you will be imprisoned, simply for having a Pit Bull or Catahoula or similar type of dog. Your property will be sold at auction, and all the money goes to the state to finance more "sting" operations, all without any trial whatsoever! Even once you ARE tried, and are found not guilty, your life is ruined. Any animals you own, dogs or otherwise, are seized and killed. The real intent of these laws is another way to prevent people from keeping certain kinds of dogs, rather than standard BSL. Now, laws are being passed against coursing, which is using sighthounds(like Greyhounds or Whippets)to catch jack rabbits, and the same "intent clauses" are being put into effect, so that merely having a Greyhound, Borzoi, Afghan Hound, Whippet or even a litte Italian Greyhound can prove that you "intend" to use it for illegal coursing. That way, more breeds and types of dogs besides the "bully" and Mastiff breeds are added to the list of dogs you cannot keep, without specifically passing bans on those breeds. It's just yet-another means of bringing about the total extinction of domesticated dogs, which is one of the main goals of the animal rights movement, like it or not.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

I recall something like this where they pit snakes against moongooses.

[pitbulllady]

randallboggs said:

I recall something like this where they pit snakes against moongooses.

Well, no-this is NOT like pitting snakes and mongooses. A mongoose is a natural predator of snakes, so it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that it's going to kill the snake and eat it. In some Arabic and Asian countries, locals do put on that display for tourists because the tourists want to see it, but since both mongooses and most snakes are nocturnal, it's not something that they are likely to see except in captivity. It's expected for the mongoose to make a meal of the snake; it's like "pitting" you against a bowl of cereal-no contest.

The object of a catch-and-tie contest is NOT to kill either the hog OR the dog(I find it ironic that most of the hoo-hah has been over the possibility of a hog getting hurt, but no care at all that the dogs and people are far more likely to be hurt than the hogs, but then the dogs are of breeds that the states would rather see erradicated, anyway), but to see how fast a dog/human team can safely catch, tie and release the hog. Like I said, you've got just eight seconds to do so, which isn't much.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

*shrugs*

Oh?

[Veg]

Oh. Now I hate myself.

[FlameTheCharmander]

Don't worry, be happy!

[Beboots]

Wow, Pitbulllady; I've heard you speaking empathetically about these laws that you have down there, and... Well, I really think this thread does prove something about misinformation, now doesn't it? I mean, when I first saw those pictures, I was thinking "Oh my goodness, those poor animals", and I'm sure in someone less lazy it could have inspired crusading feelings. However, you then turned around and explained the deeper meaning of the pictures, and now I find myself agreeing with you.

If one considers that the majority of the American public only gets a cursory look at issues (shown here by the first pictures), but lack the education (or information is withheld from them), well... Bad things can happen. XP (Now I don't mean that Americans are uneductated, far from it -- Pitbulllady here demonstrates it, and you guys DID develop and utilise the AP program for which I am eternally grateful), but up here we canadian highschool students continually discuss (and bemoan) what we know of American news networks, etc. (Fox = worst -- over two thirds of americans who watched that exclusively for news were led to believe that american troops actually found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!), and the "ignorance" of americans on major world issues.

(Now I'm not saying that Canadians are any better at getting the right information than you americans -- just look at the whole sealhunt brouhaha going on! But we have a more liberal, well-rounded media in general (as far as I know), and the average canadian student, I'm told, is relatively aware of major world issues. Plus, I just recently read an article comparing american flashy news networks to our more "boring" CBC TV news, and the scales were tipped worryingly, so... I sorta know what I'm talking about. Sorta. -_-; )


...

...Social Studies ruins my life!!!!11!!

[pitbulllady]

beboots said:

Wow, Pitbulllady; I've heard you speaking empathetically about these laws that you have down there, and... Well, I really think this thread does prove something about misinformation, now doesn't it? I mean, when I first saw those pictures, I was thinking "Oh my goodness, those poor animals", and I'm sure in someone less lazy it could have inspired crusading feelings. However, you then turned around and explained the deeper meaning of the pictures, and now I find myself agreeing with you.

If one considers that the majority of the American public only gets a cursory look at issues (shown here by the first pictures), but lack the education (or information is withheld from them), well... Bad things can happen. XP (Now I don't mean that Americans are uneductated, far from it -- Pitbulllady here demonstrates it, and you guys DID develop and utilise the AP program for which I am eternally grateful), but up here we canadian highschool students continually discuss (and bemoan) what we know of American news networks, etc. (Fox = worst -- over two thirds of americans who watched that exclusively for news were led to believe that american troops actually found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!), and the "ignorance" of americans on major world issues.

(Now I'm not saying that Canadians are any better at getting the right information than you americans -- just look at the whole sealhunt brouhaha going on! But we have a more liberal, well-rounded media in general (as far as I know), and the average canadian student, I'm told, is relatively aware of major world issues. Plus, I just recently read an article comparing american flashy news networks to our more "boring" CBC TV news, and the scales were tipped worryingly, so... I sorta know what I'm talking about. Sorta. -_-; )


...

...Social Studies ruins my life!!!!11!!

I agree with what you say about American news agencies wholeheartedly-you really do NOT know WHO to believe! Fox news tends to be overlly sensationalistic about everything, and they love nothing more than to report on some killer dog that did this or that horrific thing to an innocent child, unless that dog happens to be of a breed considered to be "safe", like a Lab or a Golden Retriever(there HAVE been some serious maulings involving both breeds). If a Pit Bull growls at someone, they jump all over the story like ducks on a crust of bread, though! The other agencies are just as bad, though they tend to put a more liberal stamp on things. You just have to use commen sense and take many of their stories with that proverbial grain of salt!

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

WOW. I missed this.

[lizardgirl]

And, concerning bias against certain species of dog, (and correct me if I'm wrong) but I swear that it's either the Golden Retriever or Labrador that apparently have some real behaviour issues, and are not as angelic as they are made out to be. Films like 'Lassie' make the general population biased and this can have a really devastating effect on other breed's treatment, which can be so unfair.

[RandallBoggs]

You know actually.
Lassie appeared on a Whose Line Epsiode. No lie. She was a guest and quiet an obidiate dog.

[pitbulllady]

Labrador Retrievers are responsible for the most human fatalities in South Carolina, where I live, but of course, no one wants to ban Labs or ever suggests that they can be dangerous. ANY big dog, or even a small one, can be dangerous when the human is a small child! Often, dogs like Labs are never properly trained, so they grow up believing themselves to be the "pack leader", and if you've ever watched how a wolf pack Alpha controls and disciplines lower-ranking wolves, you know it's by biting. That bite might not hurt another dog/wolf, but on our delicate human skin, it would inflict a serious injury. I don't know if you have ever watched the National Geographic series, "The Dog Whisperer", but one of the reasons most often given for a dog's bad or even dangerous behavior is that people tend to forget that those are DOGS, and treat them like humans! It is unfair both to the to dog itself, being put in a stressful situation where it is not allowed to BE a dog, and to the people who have to live with it. Dogs are NOT human children with four feet, and we are NOT "dog guardians".

And Sean, Lassie is actually SEVERAL dogs, all male, by the way, who are professionally trained by a third-generation dog trainer. Back in the '50's, though, Collies DID account for many dog bite and dog attack incidents, because of the popularity of that movie and tv series. Everyone wanted to have a dog just like Lassie, so the demand for Collie pups went sky-high. Problem is, all those people assumed that all Collies just naturally act like Lassie, failing to realize the intense training and socializing that went into the Hollywood dogs. The ORIGINAL movie Lassie was actually rescued from a shelter where he was going to be put to sleep for attacking a child, because he was untrained and undisciplined, so it takes a lot to turn that "diamond in the rough" into a polished Hollywood performer! Collies were bred as working/herding dogs, and don't adapt well to city or apartment life. Dogs, like people, get bored when they don't have a task to do, in many cases, and boredom leads to frustration and anxiety, which often leads to either destructive behavior like chewing up the sofa or to outright aggression. It's like a person getting "cabin fever" and just going nuts after a long enough period of time with nothing to do. Yet more and more, laws are being passed that prohibit using dogs to do the things that they were bred to do, that they actually enjoy, as much as we enjoy doing certain things. Laws are passed against using dogs to hunt wild game or herd livestock, as being cruel to the other animals. Laws are passed against using dogs to pull sleds or participate in weight-pulling contests, or against dogs being used to protect humans or our property. Pretty soon, it will be illegal for a dog to do ANYTHING but sit in an apartment or lie around on the couch all day(which is just as unhealthy for dogs as it is for us)-they can't do anything else without their owners getting in trouble. That will mean more dog attacks, more dogs being taken to shelters and turned in because the owners can't deal with their destructiveness or incessent barking, or peeing on the floor because they're just going whacko from lack of anything to do. THAT will lead to more restrictions against breeding dogs or selling puppies in an attempt to curb the number of dogs being turned into the pound, more restrictions against people having dogs in the first place, and if the ball keeps rolling in the direction it's going now, public sentiment will turn so against dogs and dog keepers, like it did in Communist China during the reign of Mao Tse-Tung, that dogs will eventually be outlawed completely, and you will see mass confiscation and slaughter of innocent pets like you cannot imagine, all "for their own good", of course.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

Really?

Oh what do ya know....^_^ How about the dogs from Eight Below?