As I have already stated, I don’t know for certain what was going on in the apparent “dogfighting” photo. It could POSSIBLY be several different things – one of which, in my opinion, is testing gameness on a dogfighting prospect. But I don’t know that for a fact and I’m not qualified to draw a conclusion because I haven’t watched extensive footage of dogfighters testing their prospects for gameness. I would be interested in the opinion of someone who is an expert in this area, assuming they could view the internal security camera footage of the encounter (which I have not seen). To my knowledge, no one who is a dogfighting expert and as such, qualified to render an opinion on what the security camera footage may or may not show, has been shown the footage.
If the photo does not show any activity relating to criminal dogfighting, and if the worker was simply trying to take two dogs out at the same time when oops – they got into a fight – doesn’t it at least reveal a disturbing level of negligence? This is the isolation ward where pets are (supposed to be) kept isolated in order to prevent the spread of disease. There should never be two dogs taken out simultaneously. Further, given that both appear to be powerful dogs whose temperament is presumably unknown to the workers, wouldn’t common sense dictate that one dog be handled at a time? I mean, I could see if the place was on fire and it was pandemonium trying to save as many lives as possible but this was just a routine work day, right?
Perhaps extremely bad animal handling skills are not a crime, but shouldn’t they be considered a form of wrongdoing when the city has repeatedly reminded us about the extensive training Matt Pepper has provided his staff? If this photo reflects negligence which resulted in dogs fighting and the potential for workers to be injured, I would think the city would take it seriously. Should this be the kind of thing that Memphis dismisses with a wave of the hand to the public and an attempt to justify the need for denying transparency at their pound?
I don’t claim to be an expert on anything but I just say what seems right to me. And this just doesn’t add up. The photo looks like some form of serious wrongdoing to me. What do you think?
Added: Here is a link to the security camera footage. There is no sound.