127 Pit Bulls, Incl. 60 Puppies, Ordered Killed, with Welfare Group's Support

Photo: Best Friends Animal Society

Just last night, I sat around a table with fellow animal activists from St. Louis as well as a visiting L.A.-based activist, and three of us chatted over dinner about the pit bulls we had at home, dogs who are bursting with love and affection for us; our conversation even included acknowledgment of possible aggression issues and the conscious precautions we take and the behaviors we watch out for, just to be safe. But mostly, we talked about how much we love them, about what great dogs they are.

This morning, I opened my Google Reader, and my stomach sank. The Animal Law blog had earlier this morning reported, "Judge orders that pit bulls be destroyed."

-Read on after the jump-

Despite the undisputed successful example of rescuing and rehabilitating Michael Vick's fighting dogs last year, a North Carolina judge yesterday ordered that more than 127 pit bulls seized in December from a fighting ring be destroyed.

"Those dogs are going to be killed solely because of prejudice," said Ledy VanKavage, an attorney for Best Friends Animal Society, which had offered to pay to have the dogs evaluated and to spay or neuter the adoptable dogs.

What isn't mentioned in this brief intro from Animal Law is the subtitle to the article, which includes the following: "Humane Society, others back the court's decision." Yes, that's right. The same group that garnered attention (and quite possibly donations) for rescuing the dogs officially recommended that all 127, 60 of them puppies, be killed--no individual assessments, no consideration of the likelihood that many of them could be rehabilitated. Just cheap, fast death. For all of them. It's the same recommendation that both the Humane Society of the United States and PETA made in the case of Michael Vick's dogs.

[Judge] Wilson ordered the dogs destroyed yesterday after hearing from a prosecutor, the attorney for Wilkes County government, Wilkes County's animal-control director and two representatives from The Humane Society of the U.S., who all called for the dogs be euthanized.

But as Amy of Animal Law noted, not every animal welfare group jumps on the kill-'em bandwagon in these cases. Best Friends Animal Society fought for the lives of the Vick dogs and proceeded to work wonders with them in a successful, widely publicized rehabilitation process. And again in this case, Best Friends tried to save the dogs. They even offered to pay for the assessments and the spaying and neutering of the adoptable dogs and to work with other rescue groups on the placement of the dogs. And with Best Friends and other rescue organizations having helped as many adult, longtime fighting dogs as they have, why couldn't we have given them a chance to at least perform individual assessments, especially where the puppies were concerned? And yes, I write this all in the past tense for a reason. The dogs likely are already dead. They could be dying as I type this:

The case had been set for trial next month. People working on rescuing the dogs thought they had more time.

VanKavage said that when she learned about yesterday's ruling she called Wilkesboro attorney William Burke to seek an injunction against destroying the dogs. She said Burke reported that when he got to the courthouse shortly before it closed, the judge was gone and the order was already signed. She said that Burke told her he thought the dogs would be dead before he could get the request before the judge.

It was unclear last night if the dogs had already been destroyed.

VanKavage said that [Assistant District Attorney] Bauer misrepresented her side's interest to the judge and it affected the proceeding.

"I think the judge wanted to hear our side of it and if we'd gotten some notice, we could have gotten into that courtroom, but the DA's office chose to stonewall us and because of that, these puppies died," she said.

And I wonder--is it just the 127 who are being (or have been) killed? Or have the couple dozen puppies who have been born into the group since the raid (the article reports that court officials yesterday put the then-current count at around 150 dogs) been condemned to death too, just because they were born to fighting dogs?

When HSUS championed its role in the rescue of the dogs from the fighting operation, the post ended with a reminder that they can "locate and eliminate animal abuse in all of its many manifestations" only if you provide them with "resources" (i.e., money). But I for one put the killing of 127 dogs, including 60 puppies, without so much as considering that many of them could be rehabilitated, into--not outside of--the abuse category. In this post referring to HSUS's own work as "remarkable" and "extraordinary," and including descriptions of rescues other than the dogfighting instance, its CEO remarked, "All cases involved long-term investigations, meticulous planning, coordination with law enforcement, scripted raids to stop or prevent animal abuse, MASH unit treatment of animals on site, transportation of animal victims, and, in some cases, the development of plans for long-term care or adoption."

That "in some cases" part? That's there because of the pit bulls (and likely the roosters taken from a cockfighting operation too)--because the moment the organization removed those dogs from the dogfighting operation, it did so knowing it would advocate for their deaths. The positions of HSUS, PETA, and others is that dogs who have been forced into fighting are beyond rehabilitation and that attempted rehabilitation is a misappropriation of resources when there are so many other animals in need. But it has been shown that many of these dogs can be rehabilitated, so why don't they deserve a chance as much as other dogs do? Why don't we want to fight harder to give happy lives to those who can be rehabilitated and adopted, to try to make up for the hell humans put them through, instead of deciding arbitrarily that all of them should die?

And let's remember that in the case of the Vick dogs, not nearly all of them even had to go to Best Friends for that more serious rehabilitation--25 of them, after careful assessment, went straight into loving, experienced foster homes.

Photo: Vick dog Uba, from Bad Rap's Vick Dog Blog

So I guess this boils down to what our concerns and goals really are: Are we comfortable with just stopping the dogfighting itself and imprisoning (or fining) the humans involved and with automatically condemning all the dogs to death outright because surely none of them are "worth" the time and money for assessment and rehabilitation? Or do we want to put the dogfighters out of business and into prison and save the dogs, really save the dogs?

At least 127 dogs. At least 60 puppies. Abused by the humans who were supposed to care for them. Killed by the humans who were supposed to save them.

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See the following for stories of dogs (and roosters) who have been and are being rehabilitated.

• Meet the Rescued Michael Vick Pit Bull Dogs Now (narrated slideshow from Bad Rap; begins with image below)
• Vick's Dogs: The Good News Out of the Bad Newz Kennels (Sports Illustrated)
• The Vicktory Dogs (Best Friends)
• Pit Bulls--The Real Story (Best Friends)
• mid-winter blues: all the good news, on (quickly!) rehabilitated fighting roosters, and heartbreak, 39-8=31, on the rescue of those roosters (Invisible Voices)