I usually don’t write about things that are unpleasant or controversial. But this happened to be in a book I am reading and is something that greatly disturbs me.
This is about something I haven’t heard anything about in quite a while. One reason is that it’s “something we’d like to sweep under the rug,” or “look the other way.”
The book I am reading touches on the subject of owning dogs and fighting them with other dogs, sometimes until death.
The reason, let’s say, that I am involved in this in the first place is that my situation might not have involved dog fighting firsthand, but if not that, then a first cousin.
A few months ago I went to PALS to find a companion for our dog Hunter, a big black lab. I don’t think you could find a sweeter boy anywhere. He was not originally our dog, but when his owners moved off, we kind of inherited him.
At the animal shelter, I did find Hunter a companion, a lovely young dog I named Sabrina. It’s almost like she’s been a member of our family from the beginning.
When I went into the office to pay, they had a few dogs in cages there, and I found myself starting into a pair of the most pitiful little eyes you could ever imagine. There in the top cage was a tiny little fellow who looked like he’d seen much better days. My heart went out to him.
I wrote a second check for this little fellow, because when I first saw him, I knew I wasn’t leaving without him.
His name was Austin, and I could never have guessed his horrific story. “Ma” Beulah, the manager at PALS, told me that someone had tied him up in a plastic bag and thrown him out close to the shelter. Someone else found him and brought him to PALS. That was not the worst part. Whoever threw Austin out had touched his little body all over with lit cigarettes.
What kind of person could do this? Maybe this letter isn’t about dogfighting, but more about animal abuse and cruelty. I don’t believe any of that was intended by our Heavenly Father.
— Debbie Touchstone, Jayess
