Friday, April 10, 2009

HSUS Bust Dog Meeting: Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

So the invited "major stakeholders" in the Pitbull world met with HSUS in Las Vegas this week regarding their policy on dogs seized in fight cases. (Previous HSUS policy=death, new policy=???) Now I'm not a supa-important, rilly offishal "stakeholder" mind you (more of a thorn-in-side-r perhaps), but since I am a dog owner and someone who feels passionately about getting bust dogs individual evaluations, I would like to know what the beautiful people discussed behind closed doors. Is that unreasonable or somehow too much to ask? Well, I'm asking.

And in that pesky, bothersome way of mine, I'm going to keep asking. Because there is a pile of bones in my mind - dead Pitbulls. Waggy adults, bouncing adolescents, and suckling pups - killed by the efforts of an unjust HSUS and their policy on bust dog extermination. That pile of skeletons represents life wasted, thrown away like trash, left to rot in some dark cellar. But that cellar door is open now and although those once vibrant dogs no longer have a voice of their own, we can speak for them. And we must.

We must not allow the HSUS to continue the killing of unevaluated dogs no matter what the excuse or supposed justification. There can be no justification for removing a nursing puppy from his dam and killing him. There is no right reason for taking a floppy-eared adolescent or a licky-faced adult who has never been fairly evaluated by a qualified individual and killing him. The end does not justify the means if killing puppies and unevaluated dogs is part of the equation. Bust dogs, like those seized from Michael Vick, have been successfully rehomed, despite what the HSUS says. And rescue groups are willing to step up and assist, despite what the HSUS says. Enough with the lies and the killing. No more dead dogs on the pile of shame.

Every dog deserves a fair evaluation.

UPDATE from Nathan Winograd

1 comment:

EmilyS said...

interesting.. I greet it with skepticism AND praise.
The words sound hopeful, but as you note, HSUS is never to be trusted.

And if Winograd posted his initial report only from a secondary source (and not from being there himself), he was wrong to do so.

But OTOH, we'll see if HSUS stops Godwin for speaking for the organization. Will they insist Godwin take back his words?

And what HSUS posts on its own website will tell some of the tale. But what actions they take will count more.