All the recent press about Michael Vick, while certainly both horrifying and disgusting, has in fact served a very valuable public service.
It has done a great deal towards publicizing a sociopathic and heartless subculture that places innocent animals in mortal combat. Many Americans never even considered that such a thing was even possible, that so many people could take pleasure or make money into what is essentially a fight to the death.
While the idea of dog fighting is repulsive to all of us, most of us fail to see how such a culture could directly affect us. Michael Vick was running a dog fighting ring in rural Virginia. From what we have read about the culture, it is by necessity underground, out of sight, and far away from us.
Except that it isn’t.
For every one professional dog fighting ring, there are dozens of so-called “street fighters” that train their dogs to be just as vicious and dangerous. And they don’t keep their dogs sequestered away in kennels or on secluded rural training areas. They parade these animals on urban street corners and view them as both a money making opportunity and a status symbol. It is with these street fighting dogs that there is a real danger to innocent people.
As brutal as any practice of dog fighting is, professional dog fighters keep their training and matches far away from the general public. Training is done in rural areas or in basements, and the dogs themselves are rarely (if ever) exposed to the general public.
Unfortunately, the culture of dog fighting has been tied up into a strange culture of machismo, and many young people have been sold the lie that having a dog that can fight is an extension of their masculinity and street credibility.
It is also an extension of criminal activity, with gang members and drug dealers simply viewing this barbaric practice as simply part of their lifestyle. The training doesn’t take place in rural or secluded areas. It takes place in back yards, warehouses, or garages in urban centers all over the country.
With professional dog fighting, the matches are set up in an extremely clandestine manner, with the participants and spectators receiving instructions and directions at the very last minute. The amateur street fighter parades his trained and vicious dog out in the open, practically advertising his willingness to fight.
A trained fighting pit bull is, through no fault of its own, one of the most dangerous animals on earth. They are extraordinarily strong animals that are capable of doing great harm to human beings. They also have a tendency to attack any time that they perceive a threat.
Pit bulls that have been trained to fight have been known to go into frenzies for reasons that are only known to them, and innocent people have been terribly maimed as the result. The real tragedy is that these attacks are by no means inherent in the behavior of the animal. These are learned behaviors that come as the result of their brutal training.
As sickening as any form of dog fighting is, the real tragedy occurs when the street fighting dog manages to get loose and wreaks havoc on innocent people. While this certainly isn’t an every day occurrence, all of these attacks are certainly preventable.
If you or a loved one has been injured due to a dog attack or bite, contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.
