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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Family Feud (Part 1)

On Oct. 15th, 2008, Floyd Boudreaux, and his son Guy, were found innocent of 48 counts of dog fighting. The Boudreaux's yard was raided in 2005, and for one reason or another, the case was held-up in the system for about three years. So what is there to feud about?


Here's the rub, folks: some in the dog world are not satisfied or relieved in this decision, while some have been overcome with joy. That is, some feel that he was involved in dog fighting at the time of the raid, while others feel that he had not been active with dog fighting for some time. Seeing as I was not privy to the evidence used against these men, and I don't know either of them personally, I'll reserve my speculation and not assume a thing about the Boudreaux family.



So the feud goes something like this:



Group A is celebrating the acquittal as they feel the HSUS, LouisianaSPCA, and the State of Louisiana were wrong in their actions (IE. raiding Floyd's place based on the evidence they used to claim his involvement with dog fighting.) Additionally, Louisiana state law requires the animals confiscated in animal fighting raids be destroyed - even before the accused has gone to trial - and so the Boudreaux dogs (~ 50 dogs) were all killed within a day or so of the raid. This is where Group A feels the HSUS & Co. will really pay for their actions, and will hopefully learn their lesson.





Group B is not celebrating the acquittal as they feel the Boudreaux men were likely still active in "the game." These folks are likely to believe that Floyd and son were acquitted based on sloppy case work from the prosecution, in addition to a sympathetic judge. This group is likely to believe that since the Boudreaux family is storied in the dog fighting world that they were probably guilty of the charges, and essentially got off for crimes they did commit, and as usual, it is the dogs that were the ultimately the victims.



Again, I don't know a thing about the Boudreaux family beyond what can be found on the Internet. Meaning, I trust these folks were involved with matching dogs in the past, and until their yard had been raided, were breeding the line of dogs that they had developed through the years. I couldn't tell you how "active" these people were with dog fighting around the time of their arrest; and I also can't tell you if the prosecution's case work was sloppy or if the judge was somehow sympathetic to the Boudreaux family.


However, I can make this statement with some certainty: these types of cases will always cause a stir in the pit bull world. To me, the "Why?" of it is pretty simple -pit bulls attract so many different "types" of people, and as such, will bring along many different ways of thinking. We're likely to always have the types that feel anyone associated with dog fighting (no matter how far in the past) should be raided and prosecuted; we're also likely to always have the types that feel that dog fighting should be legal. To be sure, everything in the middle is likely to exist as well.


In my way of thinking, dog fighting is illegal for a reason - our society expects better of it's citizens, and letting dogs destroy one another for gambling and spectating purposes is unacceptable. Sounds reasonable to me. Regardless of one's take on this case or on the Boudreaux family history, there are a great number of lessons to be found in this case...stay tuned for Part 2.

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Why Pit bulls?

As I work to provide positive, rational, and balanced information about pit bulls, and the virtues of dogs in general, I am often (read: ALWAYS) asked why I am so taken by this breed of dog. It is a fair question that isn't always asked in a reasonable manner.

In short, I find many pit bulls to posses the qualities that I value in a canine companion: great with friendly people, loyal, goofy, energetic, athletic, intelligent, and willing. To be sure, the run-of-the-mill pit bull is a lot of dog. It is all of these qualities in a medium-sized dog that has me so taken by pit bulls.

Alas, there are many aspects of pit bull ownership that are less enjoyable. Namely, dealing with the many negative stereotypes, and the constant battle to balance the mis-information provided by the breed's detractors.
...thankfully, it only takes is a few minutes of lovin' from my doggies and I am reminded they're worth the effort.

I hope this blog gives others insight into my life with pit bulls, and most of all, provides information on the breed in general; there are a lot of misinformed generalizations about these dogs.

Please contact me with questions or comments pertaining to dogs, pit bulls, BSL, etc..

All the best,

Donovan McBee
nobslnm@yahoo.com


And don't forget to visit my other blog, No BSL NM.



The HSUS attempted to fund raise for the care of Micheal Vick's dogs, while at the same time suggesting that the dogs needed to be killed.

And to add insult to injury, they weren't even planning on taking possesion of the dogs.

Contact the HSUS and tell them this is unacceptable!
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