Wabbit Season

I saw a story in the news the other day about a man who was arrested for having 150 dogs. My first thoughts were "cat lady gone over the edge" but then I read the rest of the story - he was raising them for fighting. What an asshole. Can't you find a better way to make money? Was selling crack not paying the bills?

I wondered what suitable punishment for him would be. I thought maybe taping some pork chops to him and locking him in a pen with a few of his very hungry dogs would be pretty cool. Something like this - just to scare him of course - we certainly wouldn't want to hurt him! And then throw him in a cell for a good long time and maybe perform some sort of Pavlovian experiment on him - ring a bell every time he's raped by one of the other prisoners and then see if shakes whenever he hears a bell ring later in life.

Then, last night, I watched the news on TV. There was a story about a group called "National Open Field Coursing Association" and their pastime - "greyhound coursing." What's coursing, you ask? I'd never heard of it either, and after watching the story, I wish I hadn't. It's a sick sport. No, it's not even sick, it's barbaric.

It goes something like this - the dog owners get together in some field, someone else walks around the field to flush out a rabbit, and then the dogs are released (to chase the rabbit). The dogs are judged/scored, based on things like how they turn, whether they catch the rabbit, and, I think, how many pieces they shred it into when they catch it. It was completely disgusting to see (if you're interested, the unedited video footage is here - it's really nasty!).

They interviewed a number of participants (the owners, not the dogs). When asked whether they thought it was barbaric, most replied with some witty comment like "well, I suppose for the rabbit." One commented that it was a better way for the rabbit to die (better than old age?), as sometimes when rabbits are shot, they only get wounded (yeah, ok, the rabbit can choose between being shot and potentially killed and torn apart by a dog. I'm not a rabbit, but I'm thinking most would choose the shooting).

I have an idea for a new sport - it's called "greyhound owner coursing" - take a person, put him or her in a large enclosed area with a couple of hungry lions. If it was good enough for the Romans, it's good enough for me.