Be nice to your animals.
Be nice to your animals. Otherwise, you'll lose your millions and your life won't be worth crap. Plea deals leave Vick as last dogfight defendant. His last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and implicated Vick in bankrolling gambling on dogfights. One of them said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped drown or hang dogs that didn't do well. With his NFL career in jeopardy and a superseding indictment adding more charges in the works, that left Vick with a hard choice: Cutting his own deal to hold jail time under a year or go to trial and sit through detailed descriptions of the ghastly operation known as "Bad Newz Kennels." Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach entered plea agreements and agreed to -*test*-('")ify against Vick. A third member of the dogfighting ring, Tony Taylor, struck a similar deal last month. Vick's lawyers have been negotiating with prosecutors. One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, attended the plea hearings but declined to answer questions about the progress of the negotiations as he left the courthouse. "Did you conspire with these folks to sponsor a dogfighting venture?" U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson asked Peace. "Yes, sir," he replied. A guy that makes that much money, involved in this type of stupidity removes all doubt that he's an idiot IMO.

Whatever happened to the good ol' days when athletes just smoked crack and injected steroids and basically destroyed themselves?

What I hate the most is Animal Cruelty. I'd say that my two passions in life is lnaguages and dogs. I can't stand seeing people treating animals bad, and there have been several cases where I have ended up shouting to those who call themselves "dog-owners"...

I'm sorry, but nothing's going to stop me building and deploying wasp traps. I don't give a shit about wasp rights: as far as I'm concerned it's either them or me!

So I'll disagree with your "I think the idea of maliciously injuring domesticated pets is what upsets most rational people" statement, on the grounds that deciding which species deserve to be included in the societal 'tribe' (for whatever reason - religion, child substitute, etc) is a very irrational decision in the first place. Is it? Considering I used dogs as my example...an animal that has had a history co-existing with humans for thousands of years and obviously is more intelligent than other animals. As far as deciding on war, religion, substitutes for children go, I'd agree with you that those are hardly rationales for choosing which animals should live and which should die, however, that has nothing to do with the story at hand. A highly paid, questionably talented, dumb-ass has admitted to killing dogs to hide his illegal activities, that is what this is about.

Your first line; "As opposed to publicly butchering goats or wringing the necks of chickens ..." seemed to leap towards religious rituals that are common only to a minority of cultures, while dogs are common to a majority of cultures. Also, the topic isn't really about anything related to religion, public slaughtering rituals. Disregard the first line - it was reactive rather than considered. My main interest in this thread is the ethics surrounding which animals can be abused, and which cannot. Your big-time sportsman - does he come from a background which is more tolerant about gambling on dogfights? Or has he come to the "sport" after making his fortune (ie is this a rich man's game or a poor man's game)? Dog fighting was banned in England in 1835, though it still continues. I wonder how much the legislation was driven by enlightenment/welfare issues, and how much it was promoted as a method of curbing the supposed deficiencies of the working man - eg a class-based argument. Interestingly, fox hunting (essentially setting dogs on foxes) was not banned in England until the start of the 21st century. And no, I don't support cruelty towards dogs and cats. Or foxes. Or even most insects (I've outgrown my 'burn the ants with a magnifying glass' experiments), though I'll make an exception towards wasps.

Fuck! I've edited your response rather than quoting it, Qtom! Apologies! (I never asked to be made a mod - all these extra buttons and gizmos confuse me).

Your big-time sportsman - does he come from a background which is more tolerant about gambling on dogfights? I have no idea where he grew up, or what his home life was like, but I can assume he suffers from a similar situation as many people his age; the glorification of a urban lifestyle that involves violence, drugs and gambling. American Football is very much an "every man's" game...he just happens to be a professional. My main interest in this thread is the ethics surrounding which animals can be abused, and which cannot. Fair enough, but I pretty sure that there are laws prohibiting the abuse of every type of animal in the US, even those that end up as food.

Fair enough, but I pretty sure that there are laws prohibiting the abuse of every type of animal in the US What are you including as an animal? Like Rik said, I doubt that they are laws to protect wasps, spiders, ants, and the like.