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.

irresponsible and cruel to bring dogs into the scene

^ From the OP

Her post said the police dogs shouldn’t have been there. That’s blaming the police for bringing dogs to a volatile situation that the dogs are trained for.

Criticising the police for using trained police dogs in a public disorder setting when nearly 40 of those officers were injured seems in poor taste to me.

Tell that to the poster who said humans come first.

We are all equal and everyone is capable of feeling sympathy for everyone and every animal involved. Which clearly the majority of these posters cannot seem to grasp and think we should only feel sorry for the humans. The victims include the dogs.

Humans do come first. You can have sympathy while acknowledging that it is a necessary evil and dogs and humans are not equal.

Of course you’re not being unreasonable and I’m horrified by most of the reactions here. Dogs can’t choose to work for the police, or decide to quit. And no animal should be hurt and nobody should be ok with it. It’s not a case of not caring about people, it’s caring for animals as well.

I think my main takeaway from last nights events was all the noise would’ve been very frightening and disruptive to the local hedgehogs.

I agree. Yes, it’s “their job” but they’ve not exactly applied for it, have they?

I disagree with you but i guess you do not like the idea of me thinking differently to what you think should be right.

Three little girls murdered, more little girls critically injured. There will be other little girls there at the time that will be troubled for years by the horror they witnessed.
Did the men throwing bricks at the police really believe that they were doing it for the victims and their families?

I tip my hat to you - well played!

othering
noun [ U ]
us/ˈʌð.ər.ɪŋ/ uk/ˈʌð.ər.ɪŋ/
Add to word list

the act of treating someone as though they are not part of a group and are different in some way.

It's othering if it's race/age/dog ownership. It all breeds the stereotyping, judgement and denegration of another group.

At least you aren't overreacting. FFS telling her to seek therapy for what seems like a perfectly valid question. Also love all the other posters insinuating that the OP doesn't care about murdered children because she is worried about dogs. I feel like I'm in a parallel universe sometimes on here lol either that or some people are just being deliberately obtuse so they can stick the boot in.

They are not mutually exclusive. I can understand and condemn two different kinds of horror.

Would you rather the human police were strangled, burned and had bricks thrown at them???

Most sane people don't strangle dogs. If they do they should be arrested

I'm pretty sure that anyone joining the police is aware of the risks of the job. However, I've never seen a German Shepherd or a horse filling out an application form or ticking a consent box.

The rioters are scumbags and totally at fault but it is cruel to put animals in the middle of a riot. It would be better to turn a water-cannon on the rioters but they refuse to do that in case some arsonist, violent scrotes get injured. Instead they prefer to put innocent animals into a distressing and dangerous situation, knowing they are likely to be injured. Prioritise the animals over the yobs is what I say.

I can’t believe that some people are actually disputing the idea that human lives are worth more than animal lives. Some posters claimed to find it “chilling” that I was struggling to summon much concern for the dogs in the context of what happened last night. I find the idea that you can even pretend to put someone’s child in the same realm as someone’s dog absolutely abhorrent.

Human rights trump animal rights. That's why we're allowed to have farms and medicine and stuff.

I recall very distinctly a post on MN a couple of years ago where the poster said if she was walking past a house fire and she could save either the kids trapped in the house or the dogs, she’d save the dogs. Mad.

I assume they’re saying it for effect, but it reflects a very disturbing mindset. I remember saying the same thing to my dad when I was about seven (in the context of a theoretical burning building and a cat or a person - I said it would depend which I knew best!) and it being made very clear that this was a view I had better grow out of quickly!

Dogs have their place in fighting crime, eg chasing a burglar across open ground but they have no place in riot.

What you need there is specialist teams, heavily protected and with the remit to go in very hard against these people, batons, water canon and tear gas.

Your ordinary Police Officer is not equipped for this.

I'd have used front line troops on these vile scum.

We are far too soft.

People like Farage should be in jail for whipping up hatred as he clearly did.

What I'm angry and utterly disgusted about is that racists and inciters on this actual site, plus others, whipped up hatred, which led to this-namely that people who have suffered an unimaginable trauma, are now having their streets trashed.

Weaponising trauma of others for their political ends. Frankly, sad as it is that the dogs were hurt, it isn't the main issue.

And bear in mind that the readers of these people are in reality doing it for money. They really are.

And now that shit stirrer Lawrence Fox has encouraged the same outside Downing Street. He should be imprisoned.

I know what othering means thanks for the condescending lesson.

But to say that dog lovers are bring “othered” on this thread is frankly ridiculous and does A disservice to people who truly are.

Never any intention of being condescending. Perhaps I chose the wrong word. My intention was to say how I felt that kindness and understanding are a better way (rather than being unkind about certain groups of people) especially in these times when such desperately awful things have happened.