There is a new "sport' spreading throughout the south. Actually it has been around for around ten years, but it isn't well publicized and not very many people know about it. It is so obscure we aren't even sure we know where it is legal. One state, Louisiana, allows this "sport" to takeplace, but saner minds in that state are trying to do away with it.

This new "sport" is simply called hog / dog fighting. This is a sport where they claim to show off a dogs hunting skills by putting them in the ring with a pig. The dogs, usually pit bulls, will attack the pig by biting it on the neck, snout or anywhere else it can get a grip. The pig has no escape as the "human handlers" stomp on the pigs faces and kick them to the ground if they try to protect themselves. This helps the dogs get a better grip on the pig. The pigs scream in pain as the dog chews on its snout, ears or tail, all the time the crowd is going wild, cheering and laughing. The fans of this 'sport" sit in the bleachers, listening to music and watch as pigs are systematically destroyed by dogs.

Before the "fight", the boars tusks are cut off with bolt cutters. The animal is then forced down a chute leading to the pit. Children will often poke the pigs with sticks or shovels in order to force them down the chutes.

One hog-dogger, or whatever the hell they call themselves, was quoted as saying, "Its just a bunch of rednecks..its just competition, man. A sport. It's just something to do. Just something to do on weekends to stay out of trouble."

I cannot find the words to describe how I felt when we were made aware of this so-called sport a few weeks ago. Actually we found out about it on one of the cockfighting website bulletin boards where some chicken nazis were talking about it.

The perversion of children isn't limited to hog / dog fights. Cockfighting is every bit as evil. One adult, who is typical of the cockfighting crowd, brags about running over dogs and cats and drowning small animals. This is expected from the cockfighting clique as they have no respect for any living thing, including our children. When this adult cockfighter posted his diatribe about killing animals on their bulletin board, the response was almost immediate. A 19-year old and a 16-year old got on the website and started bragging about their ability to kill cats and dogs.

Obviously the hog-doggers and chicken nazis have one thing in common. Collectively hey are a cancer on our society as they are destroying the moral fabric of our children by bringing them to their sadistic events and bragging about their vile behavior.

My co-author in both my books said it very well when I told her about these psychopaths who take pleasure in torturing animals. Johnna said:

"We are Rome. Rome will fall as it always has. Know, whether you say Karma and I say God - 'thy will be done'. The perversion of the world is to think that things are here for man's pleasure. Yet man doesn't understand true pleasure, which takes patience and an eye that looks beyond his wallet. These people don't need advice against abusing animals, they need help with personal accountability, morality, humanism and they need to learn to regard emotion as a universal thing rather than just the application to their ego."

Johnna is correct. This country has become a decadent society because we allow these people to fight and torture animals for their own prurient pleasure. What makes it worse is that they are teaching their kids that chicken fighting and hog / dogging are normal and moral activities and nothing could be further from the truth.

I am not a fan of empowering the federal government to do anything. However, it is necessary that the feds become more involved in animal cruelty issues. Any state that allows dogs to maul pigs under the banner of "family entertainment" is not doing its citizens justice, nor are the two states (Louisiana and New Mexico) that still allow chicken Nazis to fight roosters. If we don't change the way we deal with other animals and start treating them with respect, we will fall as Rome fell centuries ago.