Tag: National Dog Fighting Awareness Day

Sir Patrick Stewart Wants You to Get Tough on National Dog Fighting Awareness Day

Even though it’s illegal in every U.S. state, thousands of dogs are injured or killed each year in cruel dog-fighting operations. To promote National Dog Fighting Awareness Day (NDFAD) on April 8, the ASPCA launched the “Get Tough” campaign in 2015, asking animal lovers to advocate for stronger laws and harsher sentences for creeps who fight dogs.

This year, actor, Pit Bull advocate and all-around cool guy Sir Patrick Stewart and Ginger, the pibble he’s fostering, have joined the campaign.

“The want to please is an absolute characteristic of pit bulls,” Stewart, who believed the negative stereotypes about these dogs until he met Ginger, told PEOPLE. “It means that these dogs can be used trained and tampered with in a way that, in order to please their masters, makes them angry and violent, and makes them become fighting dogs.”

To join Stewart in bringing attention to the critical issue of dog fighting, you can share a muscle-flexing selfie either alone or with your pets on social media. Use the hashtag #GetTough and tag @ASPCA.

Along with the selfie, you can participate in the Get Tough campaign by doing the following:

  1. Sign the ASPCA’s pledge promising you’ll get tough on dog fighting by being aware of and reporting these operations, and supporting tougher penalties. As of the morning of NDFAD, over 19,200 people have signed the pledge.
  2. Find out more about how the ASPCA is working to end dog fighting.
  3. Make a donation to help the ASPCA with this cause.

“I am very happy to be part of the campaign that is speaking out against this and the urgent need for the law and organizations to intervene whenever they can,” Stewart told PEOPLE.

R.I.P. ‘Vicktory Dog’ Little Red

Just six days shy of National Dog Fighting Awareness Day, Little Red, one of over 50 dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation in 2007, crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Her loving dog mom, Susan, hopes Little’s legacy will be raising awareness of animal cruelty.

“We hope you will remember Little’s life,” she wrote, “and keep alive the fight to save animals who have been abused, abandoned and who have suffered, no matter what the circumstances.”

Photo credit: Laura Goldman (that’s Ella and Leroy, who gets very sad at the thought of dog fighting)

Help the ASPCA ‘Get Tough’ on Dog Fighting

Thousands of dogs are injured or killed each year in illegal dog-fighting operations in the United States. In honor of National Dog Fighting Awareness Day (NDFAD) April 8, the ASPCA has launched the “Get Tough” campaign, asking animal lovers to advocate for stronger laws and harsher sentences for creeps who fight dogs.

Last year, the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) prosecuted 10 federal dog-fighting cases and secured the longest sentence (8 years) ever, according to the ASPCA. However, thousands of dog-fighting operations continue to operate across the country.

To participate in the Get Tough campaign, you can do the following:

  1. Sign the ASPCA’s petition asking the DOJ to continue to crack down on dog fighting.
  2. Download a free digital toolkit that includes social media shareables, a printable poster and more.
  3. Snap a selfie with the printable poster and share it on social media with the hashtag #GetTough.

Back in 2007, when dogs were seized from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels, the general mindset was that fighting dogs could not be rehabilitated. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, told the New York Times the organization recommended that all fighting dogs, including those belonging to Vick, be euthanized shortly after they were seized.

Fortunately, dog experts from BAD RAP and Best Friends Animal Society knew better, and helped to change that mindset. They took in the Vick dogs, worked with them and eventually found loving forever homes in which many of these “unadoptable” survivors thrived, and even became therapy dogs.

Here are stories about dogs rescued from fighting operations who paid it forward and led happy lives:

Photos: ASPCA; Laura Goldman (that’s Ella and Leroy, who gets very sad at the thought of dog fighting)

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