Stand up and be counted as dog’s best friend

The horror of dog fighting has begun to tear at the seams of our humanity and it is crucial we use our collective voice to impact our leaders and save these dogs from the lives they have been forced to live. The true horror is seen in the training process of fighting dogs. This morphing of friend to fiend begins with dogs being forced to live in filthy, small cages while being beaten daily. Extreme measures include starvation, feeding the animals gun powder and filing their teeth to produce the most aggressive dogs. Once fighting dogs are no longer of use, due to injury or if they have lost a fight, many owners will simply kill their animals by extreme measures such as drowning, electrocution, hanging, burning or beating a dog against the ground. This kind of activity must be stopped, and we can be a part of bringing a halt to this senseless slaughter.

We must make the issue of dog fighting present in the minds of our elected state and federal officials. Write your congressman and senators and voice your outrage with an impotent political and legal system. We must be vocal and seek to turn crimes currently classified as misdemeanors into felonies. For instance, ownership of a fighting dog is a misdemeanor or legal in nine states. Even if a dog fighter is convicted, they only face five years in prison and meager fines around $5,000. We must let those we elect know that we will no longer accept a slap on the wrist as punishment for such heinous crimes.

I encourage you to get involved by making posters, postcards or brochures to display around your neighborhood or campus, to educate and encourage others to also get involved. This is our world and what it becomes is what we make of it. So please, get involved and make your voice known. Our pets and our humanity demand it.

Lauren Cissell
pre-business freshman