Beyond Animal Cruelty

Clair-Mel City, an unincorporated section of Hillsborough County near Brandon, is once again the site of an animal abuse situation that is just unbelievable. A two-year-old pit bull mix was shot twice, once above each eye, and then buried in the ground up to her nose in the backyard of an abandoned house. (This same house is the site of two other dog abuse cases: an injured dog was dumped in the carport last year, and just a few months ago, another dog was tied to the carport and left there to starve to death.) Someone called the police about gunshots and a dog buried in a yard, so Animal Services went to the house at 9:00pm and found the dog alive, bleeding profusely, and buried with just her most of her head above the ground. The Animal Services officer dug the dog out of her prison with her hands. The dog, named Phoebe by the officer who saved her, is being treated at Animal Services.

What kind of human being can shoot a dog in the head and then dig a hole in the ground and bury the dog up to her nose so she can breathe but just barely? I suspect that this cruelty has something to do with dog fighting. Phoebe probably didn’t make it as an aggressive fighter. Last year I watched Animal Planet’s “Animal Cops” in Philadelphia where a monster multi-chained a pit bull to a metal bar and then viciously beat him; the tormenter then walked away and left the dying dog to strangle to death by a chain around his neck. The Animal Services officers suspected that this poor dog was the loser in a dog fight. In my church we are taught that we are all children of God, that we all have a spark of divinity in us, but when I read or see how these men (and it’s almost always men who commit these atrocities) torture and murder animals (I’m not even going to get into what they do to other humans), I find it extremely difficult to believe that God has anything to do with these guys. I just don’t understand how anyone could be so cruel, so ugly, although I watch CBS’s “Criminal Minds” so I guess should grasp somewhat the workings of twisted psyches. 

Cliff McBride - Tampa Tribune