Dear Editor,
I know that editors don’t normally like to get involved in other people’s crusades. But, you may want to consider publishing something about the proliferation of dog fighting in Anguilla; how the enjoyment of cruelty to animals can distort and pervert the mental health of the humans involved; the illegal gambling that accompanies the fights; and the thoughtless disposal of the dead bodies that result.
Even if one is not concerned about the cruelty to animals per se, it is the harm done to the human psyche that should worry us. The little boy who enjoys pulling the wings off a fly to see what happens, may be just experimenting. When he graduates to setting a cat on fire out of curiosity, he is beginning to show sociopathic tendencies, and needs treatment. When he promotes himself to participating in dogfights for amusement and profit, he is a confirmed sociopath, who should receive psychological counselling while spending a lengthy period of time in enforced confinement for the safety of the community he lives in. The evidence shows he has become a danger to all those around him. The biographies of the psychotic mass-murderers show the development from the enjoyment of cruelty to animals to the enjoyment of causing pain to humans.
These two attached photographs are of two dead Pitbull Terriers that I photographed on the Cedar Village Road this morning. It looks like last night was a big night for the dogfighters of Anguilla. God alone knows how many other bodies were littered about the other roads in Anguilla after last night’s feature event.
I had to call the Environmental Health Department to get the bodies taken away before they became bloated and exploded in the heat. I don’t see why the men who own these dogs are entitled to believe that somebody else should clean up their own mess. I am grateful to the heroic officers of the Department who have to deal daily with the disgusting result of these young men’s cruelty.
The criminal offences they commit are as follows: (1) cruelty to animals; (2) gambling in a public place without a licence; and, (3) littering the public roads. If convicted, they are liable to several years’ imprisonment and thousands of dollars in fines.
The organisers and participants in organised dogfighting must be well known to all the relevant authorities. I think it is time the police did something about them. It is years overdue.
Sincerely,
Don Mitchell
cc: Minister of the Environment; Commissioner of Police; Environmental Health Unit
