10/24/2005: Dog becomes shark bait

[BigV]

I'm both skeptical and unalarmed. Snopes regards the status as "mixed". The article contains a different but highly similar photo.

I believe cruelty to animals is wrong. I think that working myself into a high froth over this picture would be a waste of energy as there are countless opportunities closer to home that I could have a more direct influence on. [<strike>devil's</strike> shark's advocate] What about the sharks caught this way or any other way that are hauled onboard, have their fins removed "harvested" and their living bleeding bodies dumped overboard to suffer and die? Where's the love there?

[Promenea]

[quote=BigV]What about the sharks caught this way or any other way that are hauled onboard, have their fins removed "harvested" and their living bleeding bodies dumped overboard to suffer and die? [quote]


Why would they throw perfectly good bait back in the water without a hook attached?


I'm not buying that they hook the dog alive. A dog has teeth and is likely to bite the shit out of you in a frenzy while putting in that hook. I can see them shooting feral dogs and using them as bait but I'm not buying the rest of it.

[Leus]

This is just too "good" to be true: a dog used as a giant fishbait, hook included? I'd say fake, even (or even more) if it's from NatGeo.

[mrnoodle]

It looks fake-ish, but (sorry for the graphic nature of the following) it would actually be a pretty effective way to rig a live animal as bait. Sharks hit to disable first, then come back around to feed. The dog would be in a considerable amount of pain, and its thrashing would attract sharks. If the hooks are set in cartilage, they wouldn't tear free, and the lack of any major blood vessels (other than in the tongue) would ensure a relatively long period of consciousness in the animal, at least until it drowned or was attacked.

Sick, but entirely plausible. I imagine they have a number of dogs pre-hooked, then they chum the water until sharks appear. When they do, splash goes a dog.

All that said, I have a hard time condemning the fisherpeople on the "cute and fuzzy" aspect alone. Live bait is live bait, and if these people don't share our sensibilities about dogs, you can't hold them to the same standard.

I use live bait all the time -- minnows don't get an easier time of it, just because they lack puppy-ness. Neither do pigs used to bait lions.

I'd break the legs of anyone I caught abusing a dog, but we can't just throw a blanked condemnation over actions which are reprehensible to our genteel upbringing.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

All that said, I have a hard time condemning the fisherpeople on the "cute and fuzzy" aspect alone. Live bait is live bait, and if these people don't share our sensibilities about dogs, you can't hold them to the same standard.

I use live bait all the time -- minnows don't get an easier time of it, just because they lack puppy-ness. Neither do pigs used to bait lions.

I'd break the legs of anyone I caught abusing a dog, but we can't just throw a blanked condemnation over actions which are reprehensible to our genteel upbringing.

Now I really, really dislike you, noodle. Bag on Halloween and now this! I CAN CONDEM PEOPLE WHO USE CATS AND DOGS AS SHARK BAIT! I CAN! I WILL! you're a bad, bad, naughty boy and some day you'll understand why this isn't a matter of 'genteel' upbringing. It's totally brutal and I'm hoping snopes says it's false.

noodle-do your attitudes about Halloween and the dog-as-bait thing have to do with your being Christian? I'll bet Jesus wouldn't use dogs as bait and I'll bet he would trick or treat. Don't know what kind of costume he'd like, though... how 'bout ??

[dar512]

I don't buy the minnow / dog comparison. The dog would be much more aware of his condition / situation.

[mitheral]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

It looks fake-ish, but (sorry for the graphic nature of the following) it would actually be a pretty effective way to rig a live animal as bait.

I'm not buying the hook thru the lip so the dog could be used as bait. It would be a lot easier to just tie the line to a collar or piece of rope around the dog's neck. This has to be either a horrid publicity stunt or there's some other explanation like noviceathome's.

[capnhowdy]

I personally am too apalled to comment. IMO no matter where you are from or who you are YOU ARE ONE SICK SUMBITCH TO DO THIS.
I wish someone would lock one of these people up in a cell with this Marine for about a half hour.
It is very difficult to draw a line for humanitarianism on these issues. Who said live bait is live bait? Sheesh......
Let's not forget.... we are animals too. More domesticated than dogs of course, but dogs are more domesticated than fish.

I project this IoTD will raise some controversy. After I recover from the initial shock I may dare to participate. Right now I'm just going to feel sorry for the dog and the twisted pieces of garbage that are committing these lewd acts. May God have mercy on their souls. I damn sure wouldn't.

[mrnoodle]

I feel the same way, get off my nuts. I'm just saying.

What about cannibals? What about cultures that have rites of passage that we would consider torture? Why do we assume fish don't feel? The shark is a predator, so his death isn't tragic? Why isn't it wrong for people to eat dog? If it IS wrong to eat dog, why isn't it wrong to eat cows?

It's obviously cruel to treat a dog like that. But what if they killed it humanely and then used it for bait? What if it was an ugly animal instead -- how would you feel then? I'm just asking honest questions of myself and of you, come play.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

I feel the same way, get off my nuts. I'm just saying.

If you feel the same way, then I suspect you already know the answers. So why ask the questions?

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

What about cannibals? What about cultures that have rites of passage that we would consider torture?

You lost me. Try again.

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

Why do we assume fish don't feel? The shark is a predator, so his death isn't tragic?

Smaller braincase. Not really self-aware.

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

Why isn't it wrong for people to eat dog? If it IS wrong to eat dog, why isn't it wrong to eat cows?

Don't know about other folks, but I think dogs make better companions than cows. I suspect dogs don't taste as good as cows.

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

But what if they killed it humanely and then used it for bait?

Ok. This one actually made me think. Assuming that the dogs came from shelters, could not be adopted, and had to be disposed of anyway, then maybe.

[mrnoodle]

edit: i didn't read the previous post before posting this....

Originally Posted by dar512

You lost me. Try again.

K. What is it about this image that's so much more appalling than any number of other practices which are just as foreign to western sensibilities (e.g., cannibalism, live sacrifice)?

Originally Posted by dar512

Smaller braincase. Not really self-aware.

You're taking someone's word for that. Grab one and try to ride it and see how aware it is.

Originally Posted by dar512

Don't know about other folks, but I think dogs make better companions than cows. I suspect dogs don't taste as good as cows.

I had a bull that would put its head in my lap from calfhood upwards. I fell asleep while leaning against him more than once. Freaked the city cousins out to have a 1000-lb red bull walk up when called, sit and lay his head in my lap on command.

Didn't eat him, but his offspring tasted great.

Originally Posted by dar512

Ok. This one actually made me think. Assuming that the dogs came from shelters, could not be adopted, and had to be disposed of anyway, then maybe.

You think any of this matters to the dog? I say that people find this picture more distasteful because we've elevated dogs to a higher status than other animals, and that we've done it for kind of selfish reasons.

My mom says that in her part of the world, there was no such thing as dogs in the house. They were considered outside animals, just like horses. The first time she ever saw a dog indoors was on My Three Sons,
and everyone thought it was disgusting to have something that eats its own shit walking around on nice clean carpet. She claims that television is what has brought dogs inside -- that kids who had never considered it before suddenly HAD TO HAVE a house dog because they saw it on TV. I dunno.

Fast forward to today, and watch people eat food with their animals, sleep with them as though they were in a den, walk around with their hair all over their clothes. The same tongue that was licking an asshole 5 seconds ago is slobbering all over your face. We put sweaters on them, name them people names, project human thoughts onto them. Why? Because we want companions to take care of that we can pretend are just little fur-covered people who "love" us as much as we love them. It's a harmless delusion, but a delusion nonetheless. They are affectionate, but they're trained to be so. You can train them to kill also, but they don't feel "hate" when they're doing it.

They're dogs. With dog emotions. We interpret their actions and motives as human, but they're not. Even the Dog Whisperer will tell you that. It's just an animal.

So, that whole rant didn't really have a point, other than this: Just because we've decided that dogs are more special than other animals doesn't make it so. If it's evil to treat a dog that way, it's evil to treat a fish that way.

But if it's not evil to treat a fish that way, then it's not evil to treat a dog that way -- we've just taught ourselves to believe otherwise.

I prefer to live with my delusions, personally. I love dogs (cats, not so much), and I'd rather make a dog happy than a person, most times. But I don't mind calling my delusion what it is, and if an entire subculture was raised to not share my views about dogs, that doesn't make them bad people.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My mom says that in her part of the world, there was no such thing as dogs in the house. They were considered outside animals, just like horses. The first time she ever saw a dog indoors was on My Three Sons, I dunno.

Absolutely, my mother would never allow a dog, cat or any critter in the house. They belonged in the yard or the barn if the weather was bad.
This was the norm, back in the day.

UT puts up the IOtD (thankfully, tip jar at the bottom on the front page) for us to see, contemplate and comment according to our individual sensibilities.
Nobody is wrong........it's how you feel....your take on the picture.
The more views stated the better because it lets us get other perspectives.

btw...I'm right, your wrong. :p

[Trilby]

Ok. I admit I have an emotional attachment to dogs/cats and furry critters all around. I don't like the idea of 'live bait' in any circumstance, though honestly I am not really bothered by live minnows being used as bait. I have no love of sharks but I don't want to see them tortured or abused or misused in any way. A living thing is a living thing and it should be honored as such and not used in some horrific, inhumane way. Human=humane? Not in my experience, but we should at least TRY. We should condem things that are blatantly tortuous, no?

[footfootfoot]

Festival of righteous anthropocentrism.

The closer you are to me the more valuable your life is.

When you show the same compassion for the weeds in your lawn that you do for the alleged dog in the above picture then I'll listen to what you have to say. Otherwise, killing is killing.

Anything else is just indefensible anthropocentric crap.

But then, that's just my opinion.

[linknoid]

Shark bait, oooh ha ha!

Sorry, that's just my favorite line from "Finding Nemo".

(Not to make too light of the situation, whoever did that is really mentally deranged if it's real.)