Other Anthropology Commons^™

Dogfighters On The Run: The Hsus Spurs Police Crackdown

Close Up Reports

How can anyone derive satisfaction from watching two dogs tear each other apart? How can anyone sit for hours, not only watching but cheering every wound, every broken leg or mangled eye?

We can only guess the answers to such questions. What we do know is that every weekend, hundreds of men, women, and children attend dogfights, enjoying the blood and excitement of dogs matched to the death and even wagering on the outcome. Virtually anyplace--a vacant garage, warehouse, apartment building basement, or city park--can house a dog pit. A picturesque farmhouse or barn may hold hundreds of spectators brought …

Hsus Helps Bust Cruel Dogfights

Close Up Reports

The HSUS believes that dogfighting, along with other blood sports, is nothing less than torture for fun that is degrading and unfit for a civilized society.

The HSUS' dogfighting program is one of the most extensive in the nation. We are frequently contacted by other animal welfare groups, law enforcement agencies, and the media to provide assistance or expertise. Our investigators frequently travel undercover to dogfights, risking their lives to garner information from the heavily armed and often drug-using dogfighting fraternity. It is often information that only we are interested in providing that enables dogfighters to be caught and arrested. …

Every Fur Coat Hurts

Close Up Reports

CONTENTS

• Every Fur Coat Hurts!
• Whims of Fashion Fatal to Furbearers
• How Many Skins Make a Coat?
• What's it Like to be Trapped?
• Life and Death on the Ranch
• Outlawing the Trap: An Uphill Battle
• Economics of the U.S. Fur Trade
• Seals: The Cruel Clubbing Continues
• You Can Do Something to Save Furbearers
• Help HSUS Help Furbearers!

Hsus Spotlights Circus Cruelty

Close Up Reports

Who can deny the sense of excitement the young and the young-at-heart feel when the circus comes to town? The sounds, smells, and attractions create a fantasy world where everything is fun.

But is it all good clean fun? Evidence in recent years suggests quite the contrary. The worst problems seem to be with the smaller circuses. In the past year, The HSUS has assisted several local societies investigating cruelty to animals in traveling circuses, rescued elephants and lions abandoned by a circus, and signed three complaints against one of the largest of today's small big tops.

According to Frantz …

Special Report On The Cruelties Involved In Wild Animal Trapping

Special Reports

Great numbers of Americans who buy and wear the furs of wild animals are unaware of the enormous cruelty and suffering that goes into producing them.

These animals are caught in a steel jaw trap which holds the leg in a crushing, painful grip. So intense is the pain and terror the animals feel that they often twist or gnaw off their own legs to free themselves from their nightmarish agony. After getting free at such a cost, many of the animals later die a slow death of gangrene, or in their weakness from shock, loss of blood and infection …

Special Report On Rodeos

Special Reports

A calf roped and busted even once suffers injury from the scientific point of view. HSUS investigators observed visible injuries to as many as 11-12°/o of the animals in some steer busting events. HSUS is determined to put an end to all cruelty at rodeos.

Special Report On Trapping

Special Reports

The steel jaw trap is one of the cruelest devices invented by man. It can be hidden under grass along a well-trodden animal path, under water, or among the leaves of a tree. When triggered by an animal's weight, the heavy steel jaws spring shut over a paw or a leg with such force that bones are sometimes broken. Some leghold traps contain sharp steel teeth that pierce all the way through flesh and muscles.