by Frank James
The pressure on the National Football League, the Atlanta Falcons organization and its starting quarterback, Michael Vick, mounts as a prominent member of Congress has now weighed into the controversy over allegations that Vick was part of a vicious dog-fighting ring.
Yesterday, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), one of the Senate’s old lions, gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on the evils of dog fighting.
While Byrd made a nod to the American tradition of the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven, he also seemed to be recommending death by electrocution for anyone found guilty of inflicting the cruelties of dog-fighting on innocent animals.
The speech should be read in its entirety because it is vintage Byrd and it probably accurately conveys the revulsion many Americans have at the practice of dog fighting.
Needless to say, now that Byrd has opened the door, it wouldn’t be surprising if Congress revisited the issue of dog fighting with new hearings and perhaps even more legislation. It’s one of those rare issues where there’d be full bipartisan agreement.
Also, Byrd, the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, is clearly going to be paying attention to how the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons handle the Vick matter, making it harder for the league and Falcons owner to go along as though it’s business as usual.
Here’s Byrd’s speech.
The deputy manager of dog-fighting issues for the Humane Society, John Goodman, points out, ”. . . dog fighting is at an epidemic level” in the United States. It involves urban areas as well as rural areas. It involves all sections of the country. It cuts across cultures and class and other socio and economic differences.
Dog fighting continues even though all 50 States have laws on the books prohibiting dog fighting. Dog fighting is a Federal crime. Let me say that again. Dog fighting is a Federal crime,
and yet animal welfare officials report that dog fighting is more popular today than ever. Shame, shame, shame.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars have all been at stake in the breeding, the training, and the selling of fighting dogs. How inhuman, how dastardly. Two dogs are placed in a pit and turned loose—turned loose—against each other. How inhuman, how cannibalistic,
how sadistic.
Let me read that again. Two dogs—God created the dog to be man’s companion—two dogs are placed in a pit—think of that—placed in a pit and turned loose against each other. And get this: the fight can go on for hours. The fight can go on for hours. Do you hear me? The fight can go on
for hours. The poor dogs literally bite and rip the flesh off one another, and bets as high as $50,000 are placed.
The brutality goes on until one of the poor dogs is seriously injured or killed. So the poor dog died—died. The dog died. And for that reason, dog fighting is regarded as a blood sport. A blood sport. While bloody, Madam President, it is hardly a sport. Hardly a sport. It is a brutal, sadistic event motivated by barbarism of the worst sort and cruelty of the worst sadistic kind.
One is left wondering: who are the real animals—the creatures inside the ring or the creatures outside the ring? The depravity of dog fighting is a multimillion-dollar business that involves training innocent, vulnerable creatures to kill—to kill—and putting them in a ring to be killed or to kill for the entertainment and/or the profit of their owners and other spectators.
I have seen one individual in my lifetime electrocuted in the electric chair—in my time. It is not a beautiful spectacle. So I can say I could witness another one if it involves this cruel, sadistic,
cannibalistic business of training innocent and vulnerable creatures to kill.
Undercover investigators who have infiltrated the dog-fighting ring have found blood-soaked dogs with life-threatening injuries that are left to die as soon as they are no longer able to compete. Undercover investigators have found dogs with ripped ears, torn lips, genitals dangling from their bodies, eyes swollen shut, and faces riddled with punctures so severe that they were barely able to breathe. How inhuman, how inhuman, how sadistic.
Dogs that survive a fight often die days or even hours after the fight from blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion, or infection. What a shame. What a shame.
If the losing dog survives the ordeal— get this—it is usually so mangled that it is no longer of any use and, therefore, it is put to death—put to death.
I have seen a human being put to death for killing another human being, but why a poor dog—a poor dog? If the losing dog survived the ordeal it is usually so mangled that it is no longer of any use. How sad, sad, sad. It is put to death. Even the winner of a dog fight commonly suffers from massive bleeding, ruptured lungs, broken bones, or other life-threatening injuries.
The training of these poor creatures— weigh those words—the training of these poor creatures to turn them into fighting machines is simply barbaric— barbaric. Let that word resound from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain, from valley to valley across this broad land—barbaric.
May God help those poor souls who would be so cruel. Barbaric. Hear me. Barbaric. Such practices as starvation of the poor animal to encourage malice, and beatings to build endurance are common. It involves teaching the dog to maul by using smaller animals, such as cats or rabbits or small dogs as training bait.
The result of this most cruel business reaches beyond the fighting ring itself. There are cases of dogs trained to kill that have broken loose and mauled human beings to death. It is reported
that dog fighters often involve their children in their bloody activities, with severe damaging psychological impact.
What a sin. What a sin. Studies have revealed that children exposed to dog fighting develop a greater acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behavior. They are taught to believe that violence— violence—is entertaining, and that it is OK to inflict the cruelties they have observed.
Dog fighting, reports the Houston Chronicle, simply breeds violence. Madam President, as a dog owner and a dog lover, I cannot even begin to understand how human beings can be so
cruel to man’s best friend. Over the centuries of time, these creatures of God have made a place in our hearts as well as in our homes.
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Dogs have endured as our devoted companions. They provide important emotional support to humans so that the mere petting of these social creatures can lower blood pressure in humans. Get that, Madam President? The mere petting of these social creatures can lower blood pressure in humans.
The affection that a dog provides is unlimited, unqualified, and unconditional. Ever the loyal companion, dogs protect us, assist those of us with afflictions, and provide hours of enjoyable companionship. Therefore, I take great satisfaction in knowing that if the people allegedly involved in this outrageous business are found guilty, they will have to answer to our judicial system—and may God help their souls.
Congress has made it a Federal crime to engage in dog fighting. God, the one, eternal, everlasting God, made man caretaker of the Earth. God gave man the responsibility of tending to the natural world with dominion over animal life. We honor God when we treat all of his creatures responsibly and with decency and with respect.
The Book of Proverbs in the Holy Bible, King James Bible, tells us: A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
The immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice reserves special places in hell for certain categories of sinners. I am confident that the hottest places in hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God’s creatures in such brutal and cruel contempt.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.
Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I ask to be recognized as in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I am honored to follow Senator BYRD to the
floor. Today, as on so many other days in the Senate, we are reminded why he is not only our distinguished colleague from West Virginia, but why he is so revered. We thank him for what he
talked about today.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.
Here’s how the Associated Press reported on the speech:
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Allegations of a vicious dogfighting ring prompted an unusually emotional speech in the Capitol Thursday, as the Senate’s longest-serving member fought tears and called for God’s judgment on those who promote such activities.
“Barbaric,” Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., shouted four times in a Senate chamber that was mostly empty except for two dozen somewhat startled tourists.
“Let that word resound from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain, from valley to valley across this broad land,” he thundered, raising his right hand. “May God help those poor souls who would be so cruel. Barbaric! Hear me!”
Federal agents have charged Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three others with procuring and training pit bulls for fighting in Virginia and elsewhere. Investigators say some losing dogs died in the pit or were later electrocuted, drowned, hanged or shot.
Byrd, 89, said he would not prejudge the men’s guilt or innocence, but he left no doubts about his sentiments.
“I am confident that the hottest places in hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God’s creatures in such brutal and cruel contempt,” he said.
“One is left wondering,” he said. “Who are the real animals: the creatures inside or outside the ring?”
When he finished, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who sometimes brings his Portuguese water dogs to work, said, “Great speech, Bob.” As Byrd left the chamber, a Senate page and TV reporter shook his hand and thanked him, and a young woman had her photo taken with him.