Hog Dog Fighting: Bloodsport Packaged as Family Entertainment
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/hog_dog_fighting.html
By Danielle Ring
If you're like most parents planning a weekend outing for your family, you might take your children camping, to an amusement park or a baseball game.
Not so for many parents in rural Louisiana. Or Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and a handful of other states where feral pigs roam.
A weekend highlight for some families in these areas is the so-called "hog dog rodeo." If you miss the homemade tin signs—"Hog Dog Rodeo Tonight! Turn here"—posted on trees along dirt roads, you can still find one of these events. Just listen for the squeals of terror and pain from the pigs and cheers from the audience of parents and children.
Hog dogging, hawg dawgin', hog baiting, hog dog "rodeos": They're all terms for a bloodsport known as hog dog fighting. An owner leads his trained pit bull into an enclosed pen. She lunges and pulls so hard on the leash that she soon stands erect on her hind legs, her face fixed in a snarl. Her guttural growl erases any doubt that she is unsure of her purpose.
At the other end of the ring, the "handler" shoves a feral pig, or hog, through a chute into the pen. He will use a cattle prod if the hog, who has faced these dogs before, hesitates. And just in case the hog had any notion of trying to defend himself, the handler has already taken the precaution of removing his tusks with bolt cutters.
The pit bull’s owner removes her leash. Before you can count to three-one-thousand, the dog tackles the hog in a cloud of dust. Her jaws tear into the hog’s flesh, maybe ripping his snout, tail, or an ear. The hog expresses his pain and fear through loud squeals that echo off the pen's tin walls. The crowd is pleased; the dog pins the hog to the ground in a mere seven seconds. As with a wrestling pin, the mandatory three seconds elapse, and the operator declares the dog victorious. Adults and children cheer for the fast, powerful dog.
However, the dog’s jaws remain attached to the hog’s flesh. After what must seem like an eternity to the hog, people casually make their way over to end the match. If the hog struggles, the handler may give him a sharp boot to the head, then dig his heel into the hog’s chest to still him. He then uses a long, wooden blade called a breakstick to pry the dog's jaws from the hog. It can take up to a minute to release the dog’s grip while the hog continues to writhe in agony and terror.
After the proud owner leads his dog away, the handler may pour apple vinegar into the hog’s wounds. The vinegar supposedly helps the wounds develop scabs so that the hog can be mauled again in a few days.
If enough children attend the hog dog fight, the operator will encourage a game of "catch the pig." In this "kiddie-friendly" game, the handler tapes the hog’s snout closed and encourages children to chase the terrified animal around the pen. At one event, secretly videotaped by Alabama’s NBC-15 station, the announcer remarked that the hog suffered a broken leg, something that failed to dissuade the children from trying to tackle the pathetic, hobbled animal.
At the end of the night, the organizer tallies his profits from admission and dog entry fees. And the owners with the fastest dogs leave with trophies and hundreds of dollars in prize money.
The link above contains the article in full:
You know, I'm very much a pacifist, yet I'd happily hand the organisers of this cruel and inhumane sport over to a posse of Mike Tysons or whomever the latest pugilists are, to be dealt with accordingly.
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/hog_dog_fighting.html
By Danielle Ring
If you're like most parents planning a weekend outing for your family, you might take your children camping, to an amusement park or a baseball game.
Not so for many parents in rural Louisiana. Or Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and a handful of other states where feral pigs roam.
A weekend highlight for some families in these areas is the so-called "hog dog rodeo." If you miss the homemade tin signs—"Hog Dog Rodeo Tonight! Turn here"—posted on trees along dirt roads, you can still find one of these events. Just listen for the squeals of terror and pain from the pigs and cheers from the audience of parents and children.
Hog dogging, hawg dawgin', hog baiting, hog dog "rodeos": They're all terms for a bloodsport known as hog dog fighting. An owner leads his trained pit bull into an enclosed pen. She lunges and pulls so hard on the leash that she soon stands erect on her hind legs, her face fixed in a snarl. Her guttural growl erases any doubt that she is unsure of her purpose.
At the other end of the ring, the "handler" shoves a feral pig, or hog, through a chute into the pen. He will use a cattle prod if the hog, who has faced these dogs before, hesitates. And just in case the hog had any notion of trying to defend himself, the handler has already taken the precaution of removing his tusks with bolt cutters.
The pit bull’s owner removes her leash. Before you can count to three-one-thousand, the dog tackles the hog in a cloud of dust. Her jaws tear into the hog’s flesh, maybe ripping his snout, tail, or an ear. The hog expresses his pain and fear through loud squeals that echo off the pen's tin walls. The crowd is pleased; the dog pins the hog to the ground in a mere seven seconds. As with a wrestling pin, the mandatory three seconds elapse, and the operator declares the dog victorious. Adults and children cheer for the fast, powerful dog.
However, the dog’s jaws remain attached to the hog’s flesh. After what must seem like an eternity to the hog, people casually make their way over to end the match. If the hog struggles, the handler may give him a sharp boot to the head, then dig his heel into the hog’s chest to still him. He then uses a long, wooden blade called a breakstick to pry the dog's jaws from the hog. It can take up to a minute to release the dog’s grip while the hog continues to writhe in agony and terror.
After the proud owner leads his dog away, the handler may pour apple vinegar into the hog’s wounds. The vinegar supposedly helps the wounds develop scabs so that the hog can be mauled again in a few days.
If enough children attend the hog dog fight, the operator will encourage a game of "catch the pig." In this "kiddie-friendly" game, the handler tapes the hog’s snout closed and encourages children to chase the terrified animal around the pen. At one event, secretly videotaped by Alabama’s NBC-15 station, the announcer remarked that the hog suffered a broken leg, something that failed to dissuade the children from trying to tackle the pathetic, hobbled animal.
At the end of the night, the organizer tallies his profits from admission and dog entry fees. And the owners with the fastest dogs leave with trophies and hundreds of dollars in prize money.
The link above contains the article in full:
You know, I'm very much a pacifist, yet I'd happily hand the organisers of this cruel and inhumane sport over to a posse of Mike Tysons or whomever the latest pugilists are, to be dealt with accordingly.
