BadRap Talks About the Missouri Bust

BadRap has a post over at their blog discussing the recent revelation that Missouri police and the Humane Society of Missouri bought and used 40 dogs to make an enormous fight bust across multiple states and involving at least 500 dogs. Read the comments; it's a good discussion, I think.

I wrote about this three days after I read the extensive article earlier this month detailing the subpar treatment the "investigation" dogs received (few survived the aftermath) and how the Humane Society of Missouri and the Missouri law enforcement agency endorsed and funded the purchase of 40 dogs from a breeder and then fought them. It is not an easy read, by the way. You can't do anything but ache for those dogs. They weren't heroes. They were victims, but victims of a shelter who should have protected them and tax-payer funded investigators who, in my view, should have come up with something else. And most were killed afterwards, so poorly were they treated...it's a bad sign when dogs from non-sanctioned dogfighters are better treated and more behaviorally sound than the "investigative" dogs.

I've been waiting for the rescues involved to talk about this issue. It was surprising that they didn't, because it seemed such an important topic of discussion for any rescue that takes in fight-bust dogs.

So I asked about it in the comments, because I admit to not knowing the logical reasons for not talking.

From Donna, "gag orders come along with working on any case, federal cases especially. We talk when the time is right." and Tim, "The opportunity to help these dogs comes at the eleventh hour with no previous knowledge of a game plan. With the dogs' best interest in mind we have said yes in these cases, however legally, we cannot speak in public about the particulars of the individual dogs we have taken on. Be certain though that we have not remained silent outside of the public arena as it pertains to this "questionable" practice."

Which makes me eternally grateful to newspapers like the Riverfront Times for publicizing this issue which, so far as I can tell, hasn't been given much play in larger or more national papers (combined, the two articles in the Riverfront Times and the New Times has about 30 comments, that's pitiful!) The fact that it's public means groups like BadRap can open up a dialogue. And they should - they should be leading the discussion!

I certainly hope all rescue groups and agencies involved with the rescue and placement of these dogs come out firmly against this practice. If we can fly to the freaking moon, we can figure out a way to infiltrate dog fighting rings without torturing dogs. If we can transplant hearts from one human to another, make life out of death, we for sure can divine fascinating and intriguing tactics to rid the world of dog fighters. We are smarter than this, and as a society, we have taken a firm stance against dog fighting. No exceptions given!