There's profit, but no sport, in dog fights and canned hunting | The ...

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By Lauren | July 5, 2012

Continuing this week?s posts on Wayne Pacelle?s brilliant new book, The Bond, let?s focus on some ways that animals get abused in the name of recreation. The highly publicized animal cruelty conviction of football superstar Michael Vick provides the framework for The Bond?s heartwrenching description of how fighting dogs are forced to battle one another, frequently to the death, and how humans mistreat dogs who aren?t strong enough to prevail. Vick himself is quoted admitting to drowning and body-slamming dogs he deemed substandard. It also describes how Wayne Pacelle came to the difficult but, I think, ultimately correct decision to allow Vick to work with the Humane Society after he was released from prison as a spokesperson for animal protection. As a reformed dogfighter, after all, Vick is exceptionally well-equipped to explain why forcing animals to slaughter one another is just plain wrong.

The Bond also reveals various ways that some would-be big game hunters stack the deck against their prey. Apparently, there are places in America where, for a fee, one can chase a wolf in a helicopter until the poor creature collapses from exhaustion, then shoot it to death at leisure. Bears can be chased up trees by packs of trained dogs, then shot and killed from a safe vantage point. Bison can be gunned down while trapped in pens. The ?hunter? gets to tote home a trophy at no risk to life or limb, and the people who arrange the repulsive charades (commonly called ?canned hunting?) walk away with thousands of dollars while the animal victims suffer pain and terror before being killed and turned into wall ornaments or rugs.

Both dogfighting and canned hunting are appalling and, in many instances, illegal. Unless state governments are willing to enforce their anti-cruelty laws, though, they?re likely to continue as long as a market for them exists. I can?t imagine wanting either to watch dogs tear each other apart or to shoot a terrified animal who has no means to defend itself or hope of escape, and I?m particularly disgusted that anyone would choose to profit by pandering to people who do. Thankfully, it appears that most Americans detest animal cruelty, so our best hope of preventing violence against animals that masquerades as sport may be through public censure. Law enforcement may get its act together eventually but, while we?re waiting, the more disapproval we all can express toward people who engage in these hellish ?sports,? the better. If there are no participants there?ll be no profit, and when the money vanishes, so will the cruelty.

Topics: Business Ethics, Personal Ethics, Social Ethics, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |

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