To think it’s cruel to bring police dogs into a a massive violent riot as was Southport last night? *edited by MNHQ

[Bullbreedbliss]

The tragedy at Southport has been horrific beyond description and touched us all. However I can’t help but think it was not only ineffective, but irresponsible and cruel to bring dogs into the scene that unfolded during last nights riots. The morning after and we are hearing that dogs have been injured from having bricks thrown in their direction, strangled, kicked and burnt. Bringing half a dozen dogs into a scene where hundreds of people are engaging in such extreme levels of violence and civil unrest was never going to achieve anything except traumatised and injured animals. A poor tactic employed by police at great cost to the animals that did not choose to be there.

According to the BBC this morning, 39 police officers were injured with 27 taken to hospital. Only 3 police dogs were injured. It is the police officers and the residents of Southport who we should be feeling sorry for.

What a pointlessly nasty comment - the OP has already explained that there are a ton of generic threads expressing horror about last night.

would you like some one on one time with the police 'land sharks' as they are affectionately called in my circles?

i don't see a thread saying why are the police sending in 18 and 19 year old kids to stop these riots, because that how old some of them are!

but you are worried about an animal that will have your arm off on command!

bit of virtue signalling going on here i suspect

It's a funny old thing but people can be heartbroken about the murder of children, incensed by mindless violence AND also concerned about animals in a conflict zone. Weird how the human brain allows more than one thought isn't it.

So are we not allowed to feel sorry for the poor injured dogs in your opinion?

You can be angry at the thugs who orchestrated the rioting and concerned about police dogs being hurt, you know.
The two are not mutually exclusive.

@Screamingabdabz

i don't 'think' I care about the bigger picture, I DO care about the bigger picture.

i care about the 3 little girls that have fied
i care about the other children & the adults still in critical care
i care about their families & friends
i care about the children (& adults) that were involved & many of them that will have been traumatised by it.
i care about the emergency workers & hospital staff be nurses, doctors, orderlies, who have been involved
iabout the GOID police involved last night & their families

I ALSO care about the dogs that were abused & hurt last night.

no dog mugs, pictures, cushions, clothing etc here. Just more care & compassion than some people I suppose. The world doesn't revolve around dogs, but it does include them.

@RickyGervaislovesdogs

well said

not complicated is it?!

The title of the thread is about it being cruel to bring dogs to deal with rioters- this isn’t the same as feeling sorry for the injured dogs. The title of the thread suggests that the police have made a cruel and incorrect decision bringing dogs. I’m not an expert on tactics but if the dogs help reduce human casualties and end things quicker then they are needed.

But the injured police dogs probably saved other police officers being injured. Humans should always come first.
As I said in my earlier post these dogs lead far more fulfilled lives than most dogs.

A bit of a leap, isn’t it?
Do you often make unreasonable assumptions about someone’s character when you lack intelligent argument to defend your point of view?
But since you asked, I object to animals used for entertainment purposes including in sports. I also object to systematic cruelty towards animals, including from handlers.
However, there are many breeds of working dogs used for policing, search and rescue, herding sheep, pulling sled etc. Each of these jobs comes with occupational hazards. It would be pretty odd to argue that dangerous jobs should not be done by humans or dogs on the basis of risks involved.
The OP’s main point wasn’t “poor dogs”, her point was that dogs should not have been present at the riots. In similar vein, I guess, dogs should not be taken on search and rescue missions in case they get injured, or they should not herd sheep in case sheep stomp on them. Or they should not serve as guide dogs in case they get run over by a car… But you would be hard pressed to find someone who really thinks that.
So there is really no need to strawman my argument. I could just as easily demand to know if every person who is in OP’s camp is a vegan and, if not, how they feel about exploitation of farm animals. But I am not doing that because it would be silly and outside the scope of this discussion.

yes it is

and the officers? you forgot to add its so sad that the officers got injured

Those poor sweet innocent doggies, I hope they all make a speedy recovery.

@brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

you have a nasty attitude about dogs on every thread you can find an angle to show it. We get it, you hate dogs.

& people do not say 'what about police dogs' everytime you post wanting dogs banned either.

going into a riot, is not the only thing police dogs do 🙄we don't need to out them into riots to justify their existence, not that it even needs justifying.

and the police officers? you forgot to add that you hope all the police officers injured also make a speedy recovery?

I'm on the fence about putting the police dogs into situations such as the rioting in Southport.
But the policemen/women chose their profession.
The dogs don't get to choose.
And you can care about both police dogs and police humans - but that doesn't suit some PP's agenda.

Because they're working animals? They're trained and, just like people who have jobs on the front line, every day the dogs are working is a day they may get injured. I think I'd understand your argument more if you said people shouldn't tame and train animals for their own use.

obviously. There are a million sad things I didn't include in my post.

@titchy

i don't object to the police dogs finding drugs. chasing down suspects or a load of the other jobs they do,

im not shoe hirning myself into the tragedy by caring about the dogs being hurt

it's not making it about somethings else 🙄🙄
most people, but clearly not all, are able to hold more than one thought in their heads.

ah that old chestnut.. do you think police officers chose to be sent into riots? do you think their boss asked for volunteers and only those that put their hands up went?

i care about all animals but i am also sensible enough to know the benefits of working animals.

a dog wouldn't do it if it really didn't want too.. like any animal, struck by fear!

Always find it odd that some people dont think its possible to care about more than one thing at a time

It doesn't have to be binary tho.

OP can care about more than one thing at once.

@Thepeopleversuswork

not one person, not one, has said it trumps the other concerns!

I don't think a sentient animal's health, their ability to feel emotions, fear and trauma is comparable to some stainless steel being damaged.