Lowest Form of Sensationalism

Here at the QuiXand Ranch, we breed race dogs. Whippets actually, and I probably shouldn’t say “we” because it’s really my better half that does all that. I mostly just keep the fields mowed and complain about the mess while she continues doing what we do here. My wife hates it when I brag her up but suffice it to say that some of he fastest Whippets in North America carry the QuiXand kennel name.

Dog breeding and dog racing are her passions and she has become very good at both. The racing consists of chasing a lure over a 200 yard sprint course or running around an oval track of about 300 yards, give or take. The dogs don’t much care, they just love to run. I’ll never forget the first time I saw her Whippets run; I was blown away by their Cheetah-like speed and grace. To be honest, I had no idea that dogs could do that.

There is a third sport that our dogs compete in called open field coursing and that sport involves chasing and yes, sometimes killing, jackrabbits. Recently KGO-TV in the San Francisco Bay area ran a story under the heading:

I-Team Uncovers Blood Sport In Bay Area Exclusive Investigation
By Dan Noyes

The story can be seen in its entirety at:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=3874872

Now I wasn’t born yesterday and this certainly isn’t my first experience with the sensationalistic garbage that passes for journalism these days but this piece is really over the top. They make some of the most caring animal people I’ve ever met look like a bunch of blood-thirsty lunatics. Check out the inane banter leading into the story.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here about how Enquirer-like the mainstream press has become or what a bunch of hypocritical idiots comprise the PETA leadership but suffice it to say that this is not an accurate representation of the people I know who participate in the sport. To be fair, I don’t think PETA had much to do with this story buy why pass up a chance to take a stab at those paint-throwing morons?

When I was a teenager, farmers in Idaho used to get a bunch of people together and drive all the jackrabbits they could find into a field and then form a line and walk the field clubbing them to death. Why? Because there was an overpopulation of rabbits that were destroying their livelihoods.

Now that was a barbaric practice that needed to stop and it did, though the reasons behind it were valid. But let’s not get so overly sensitive that we can’t tell the difference between animals doing what they do and clubbing baby seals in the arctic. There are things in-between, really.

The net result has been that the Grand Course, which was to be held in a couple of weeks, has been cancelled and the sport is virtually dead, at least for now. The Grand course is the culmination of an entire season of hunting by at least 175 dogs that participate in the sport. They compete all season long for the right to contend in the Grand Course and earn the title of being the best at what they were born to do.

Meanwhile, I’m amazed at the morons who jump on the outcry bandwagon. No wonder we have such a bunch of crooks running this country when American are so easily led by the nose. It seems that “outcry” is what we Americans do best.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if “outcry” could be replaced in this country by rational debate and thoughtful discourse? Maybe we could look into things a little, ask a few questions and do a little research before we jump on the “outcry” bandwagon. Just start with a few baby steps like logging onto Wikipedia once in a while. I know, you may say I’m a dreamer...

Who knows what that could lead to? Maybe one day we could have an opinion about the actions of our Government without being singled out as disloyal and un-American. Maybe we’d find our collective conscience instead of the knee-jerk crying-out that currently passes for a conscience.

Would I like to be a Jackrabbit being pursued by a Whippet? Not on your life. But I wouldn’t much want to be a deer in a hunter’s crosshairs or a cow or a pig on your dinner plate either.