This is happening in the UK. The RSPCA is investigating a claim that kittens are being bred as live bait for fighting dogs. It is difficult me to write about this but it needs to be aired. It needs to be publicised because it is horrific and people need to be aware of these sorts of horrific acts that take place in what is considered to be an animal loving country. That reputation must surely be in doubt when you read about this sort of behaviour.
Apparently, there is a picture on Facebook which I am unable to find that shows a cat with its head in a dog’s jaws above the caption: “Got some now, anyone want to put a bet on who wins?”.
In another post on Facebook there are pictures of kittens and a caption which reads: “Will have a litter ready for Christmas (dog bait)”.
The RSPCA received complaints from concerned individuals about kittens being sold as dog bait in the Liverpool area of the UK. Liverpool is in the north east of the UK to international readers who don’t know where this city is.
The RSPCA believes that there is a network of people involved in dog fighting in this area. They use female names to avoid attracting attention and suspicion. These accounts on Facebook are often closed but then reopened under different names. Adverts also are found on other websites concerned with classified adverts such as Gumtree.
A trustee of an animal sanctuary charity in Merseyside (an area where Liverpool is), Heather Prescott, states:
“People have asked us to help with homing their kittens but by the time we get there, somebody will have already bought all of the litter… They take the kittens as a job lot and sell them for quite a serious profit.”
A spokesman for the animal rights group PETA reiterates what a lot of us already know namely that selling animals over the Internet is dangerous with respect to the animal’s welfare. She said:
“These animals are vulnerable and it’s hard to ensure that they are headed to responsible, loving homes… Online ads appeal to impulse buyers, who likely won’t give serious thought to the lifelong commitment needed to provide an animal with stability and to people who deliberately hurt animals.”
The RSPCA is investigating as mentioned and the local police force said that the matter was not their responsibility to investigate. I presume that this means that they have handed the matter over to the RSPCA. If they don’t mean that then they are clearly being highly irresponsible.
My research indicates that with respect to horrific animal abuse and cruelty Facebook does suffer from hoax postings. There have been a number of dogfighting postings which have been declared to be hoaxes. I don’t know whether they are or they aren’t. There are people on Facebook who like to stir up trouble and antagonise other people particularly animal lovers by writing provocative articles. I don’t think that this is the case in this instance but it could well be. As stated, the investigation originates in Facebook postings. Facebook has a reputation for allowing these sorts of postings to be made and sometimes they justify why they allow the posting to remain with spurious and poor reasoning.
Associated: Kittens as crab bait.
Source: The Times (hard copy).
Thanks Margaret for your contribution – most welcome.
The article was sensationalist. The two individuals it Is in respect of are prolific pedlars but there is no evidence they acquire kittens for bait. We do not, however, know what happens to any kittens which don’t sell
RSPCA have now dropped their investigation, saying there is no baiting going on – in respect of the two women involved in this peddling report
Thanks Margaret. There is circumstantial evidence that kittens are sold for live bait as I read the article.