Update at the end.
Well, well, well. Who'da thunk it.
Someone using the immensely credible handle, 'Anonymous', has been posting a comment...
"HSUS got the $190,000 from the amicus brief filed in the Michael Vick
case. The brief was signed by ADOA, the Animal Adoption Center, Best
Friends, The Cape Fear APBT Club,CHAKO, The Maryland Dog Federation,
The National American Pit Bull Terrier Association, The Real Pit Bull
Foundation for Advocacy and Rescue, Spindletop Refuge,Villalobos Rescue
Center, &Worthy Companions Domestic Animal Rescue"
...here and there, notably at Yesbiscuit! and Blue Dog State, both of whom (along with yours truly) have exposed the Wilkes County involvement of the HSUS using the transcript in the case.
Trouble is, it's a lie. BDS has been wondering where the $190,000 per dog rehabilitation cost mentioned by Amanda Harrington in court came from - and so have I.
Well, it certainly didn't come from the referenced Amicus curiae brief filed in the Vick case, as the intrepid BDS has discovered:
Trouble is, it's a lie. BDS has been wondering where the $190,000 per dog rehabilitation cost mentioned by Amanda Harrington in court came from - and so have I.
Well, it certainly didn't come from the referenced Amicus curiae brief filed in the Vick case, as the intrepid BDS has discovered:
The amicus brief reads (emphasis aded) . . .
"Amici estimate an average cost of $2,500 per dog for assessment and rehabilitation. To the extent that the Government has calculated an amount in excess of that figure, Amici adopt the amount estimated by the Government."
So, for the 53 Vick dogs, the estimate was $132,500 -- for all 53 dogs.
Not exactly $190,000 per dog, is it?
So, again: where did that $190,000 come from ?
Are we looking at perjury? Extortion? What?
"Amici estimate an average cost of $2,500 per dog for assessment and rehabilitation. To the extent that the Government has calculated an amount in excess of that figure, Amici adopt the amount estimated by the Government."
So, for the 53 Vick dogs, the estimate was $132,500 -- for all 53 dogs.
Not exactly $190,000 per dog, is it?
So, again: where did that $190,000 come from ?
Are we looking at perjury? Extortion? What?
Yeah, are we looking at perjury? Extortion? What? How about libel? Do Anonymous's comments constitute libel, or just a desperate attempt to lie about verifiable facts?
Over to you, Wayne-O.
Update:
It seems we aren't looking at either perjury, extortion or libel but we are still looking at something very fishy -
There's more information in another comment at BDS -
Over to you, Wayne-O.
Update:
It seems we aren't looking at either perjury, extortion or libel but we are still looking at something very fishy -
There's more information in another comment at BDS -
Page 29, Section A
....
Rehabilitation of fighting dogs is a time consuming, labor intensive effort which requires 4 to 6 hours each day per dog. Qualified trainers earn between $50.00-$75.00 per hour. At 5 hours a day, 30 days a month, this $9,70 dollars per month of training. To this, add food and veterinary care, and the price to rehabilitate a fighting dog is a little more than $10,000 per month. If training and rehabilitating a dog takes 18 months, the cost rises to $180,000 plus the run cost of $10,000 or $190,000 per dog.
That's where HSUS got the figure, page 29 of tha amicus in the VICK case that had nothing to do with this case.
....
Rehabilitation of fighting dogs is a time consuming, labor intensive effort which requires 4 to 6 hours each day per dog. Qualified trainers earn between $50.00-$75.00 per hour. At 5 hours a day, 30 days a month, this $9,70 dollars per month of training. To this, add food and veterinary care, and the price to rehabilitate a fighting dog is a little more than $10,000 per month. If training and rehabilitating a dog takes 18 months, the cost rises to $180,000 plus the run cost of $10,000 or $190,000 per dog.
That's where HSUS got the figure, page 29 of tha amicus in the VICK case that had nothing to do with this case.
Incidentally, this snip is not available in the online version of the brief.
Since none of the signatories to the Amicus curiae brief in the Vick case had ever attempted a rehab op like this one, they had no way of knowing how time-consuming or labor intensive it might be, which is fair enough.
However, to state flatly that it takes 4 - 6 hours of professional training daily for a month and for up to 18 months is not realistic.
First of all, if that's the case, they aren't dealing with pro trainers.
We're talking about an average of 150+ hours per month of individual professional training time. Taken for the maximum mentioned, 18 months, that amounts to 2,700 hours of training to socialize just one dog from a fighting bust.
You know, if something doesn't sound true, it usually isn't. Comparing this absurd estimate with the amount of time children spend in primary classes, which is around 100 hours per month for 9 months per year (one month deducted for holidays and PE days), we see that a child spends 900 hours in school each year.
So we are expected to believe that a child can attend school for three years in the amount of time it takes to socialize one dog?.
Was somebody trying to pad the bill a bit to take advantage of Vick's high profile? Maybe everybody is fighting over money, who knows? There's sure gold in them thar 'pit bull' hills these days if you're on the right side. Which means you're not on our side because that costs money and time in a big way.
However, to be fair, Harrington's testimony regarding rehab costs was reportedly sourced from court documents in the Vick case.
I guess we can't blame the HSUS for everything but we can still call them out for insisting that harmless dogs and puppies were better off dead.
They are the Humane Society of the United States, aren't they?
What these silly people are saying about 'fighting dogs' is based on a belief in cultural memory. The premise is that if a dog's ancestors were trained to perform an activity, then all their descendants can inherit that training, rather than the qualities that made them suitable in the first place. Of course, the animal liberation scribe Clifton believes this, so I imagine others do as well. Ah hell, I don't imagine it, I know it - they say it over and over and over again, not realizing how foolish it makes them appear.
So, HSUS, you're off the hook on the supposed source for the $190 K per dog rehab nonsense, but not the rest of it, such as the fact that it had nothing to do with the Faron case, wasn't an estimate in the Faron case and wasn't even awarded in the Vick case.
Why would anybody use a figure like that? The only reason that I can see is that they want to be sure all rescue efforts around alleged dogfighting busts are scuttled. That way, they can still kill all the 'pit bulls' and move on to the next 'case'.
Since none of the signatories to the Amicus curiae brief in the Vick case had ever attempted a rehab op like this one, they had no way of knowing how time-consuming or labor intensive it might be, which is fair enough.
However, to state flatly that it takes 4 - 6 hours of professional training daily for a month and for up to 18 months is not realistic.
First of all, if that's the case, they aren't dealing with pro trainers.
We're talking about an average of 150+ hours per month of individual professional training time. Taken for the maximum mentioned, 18 months, that amounts to 2,700 hours of training to socialize just one dog from a fighting bust.
You know, if something doesn't sound true, it usually isn't. Comparing this absurd estimate with the amount of time children spend in primary classes, which is around 100 hours per month for 9 months per year (one month deducted for holidays and PE days), we see that a child spends 900 hours in school each year.
So we are expected to believe that a child can attend school for three years in the amount of time it takes to socialize one dog?.
Was somebody trying to pad the bill a bit to take advantage of Vick's high profile? Maybe everybody is fighting over money, who knows? There's sure gold in them thar 'pit bull' hills these days if you're on the right side. Which means you're not on our side because that costs money and time in a big way.
However, to be fair, Harrington's testimony regarding rehab costs was reportedly sourced from court documents in the Vick case.
I guess we can't blame the HSUS for everything but we can still call them out for insisting that harmless dogs and puppies were better off dead.
They are the Humane Society of the United States, aren't they?
What these silly people are saying about 'fighting dogs' is based on a belief in cultural memory. The premise is that if a dog's ancestors were trained to perform an activity, then all their descendants can inherit that training, rather than the qualities that made them suitable in the first place. Of course, the animal liberation scribe Clifton believes this, so I imagine others do as well. Ah hell, I don't imagine it, I know it - they say it over and over and over again, not realizing how foolish it makes them appear.
So, HSUS, you're off the hook on the supposed source for the $190 K per dog rehab nonsense, but not the rest of it, such as the fact that it had nothing to do with the Faron case, wasn't an estimate in the Faron case and wasn't even awarded in the Vick case.
Why would anybody use a figure like that? The only reason that I can see is that they want to be sure all rescue efforts around alleged dogfighting busts are scuttled. That way, they can still kill all the 'pit bulls' and move on to the next 'case'.
