RUSH: Here’s Jan in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I’m glad you called.
CALLER: Thanks, Rush. It’s nice to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I’m a former cruelty investigator, and there are two items I wanted you to know. First of all, hogs are used in fighting, and it’s called hog-dog training, and they’re used as feral pigs put in the pen, and then pit bulls or other dogs that are being trained to fight — or to hunt — these animals in the wild are let loose on them to, you know, catch, fight — and you know, if you see pictures of them, they’re chewed to death.
RUSH: The pigs?
CALLER: Yes. Actually, these are feral pigs that have tusks, and the tusks are removed, and then the dogs are let loose on them, and it’s billed as a family sport.
RUSH: Where does this happen?
CALLER: There are about ten states in the United States where it’s believed to go on, but there are seven states —
RUSH: Believed? Believed to go on?
CALLER: Well, they do actually do it in these states, but as a matter of fact there’s a national website by an organization that promotes this, that you can find online.
RUSH: I don’t want to give it. No, no, no. I don’t want to send people to that website.
CALLER: No, we don’t. Well, yes, we do.
RUSH: Let ’em find it on their own if they care that much about it.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: (sigh) So you’re a cruelty officer.
CALLER: I’m a
RUSH: Former cruelty officer. Well, I’m glad that you got out of the business. That’s gotta be great for your state of mind.
CALLER: Well, it is. My last case was a guy that got mad at a cat for walking across his newly washed car, and he poured gasoline on it, tied it to a tree, and lit it on fire, and I couldn’t get the judge to send him to psychiatric counseling, and I said ‘no’ at that point.
RUSH: I can’t relate to this kind of behavior. I can’t relate to any of it. I’m too fascinated by animals and what makes them tick. I just can’t relate to any of it, and I wouldn’t want my job to be having to track this stuff down. Why is it so hard to catch these dog-fighting rings?
CALLER: Well, it’s difficult because they’re very secretive. They move from place to place.
RUSH: How do you cover the noise? I mean, for crying out loud, at Vick’s place where this was going on, apparently frequently, they were doing it in the backyard.
CALLER: I know, but it was in buildings and it was in an isolated area. They weren’t that close to their neighbors. That’s usually what it is, although it’s being done a lot more in the inner cities now, dog and cockfighting. Amazon.com sells two cockfighting magazines that support this and have ads in these magazines inviting dogfighters to contact each other, and they recently removed their live dog-fighting videos from sale, but they consider it a free-speech issue to sell the cockfighting magazines.
RUSH: Right, right, right. Well, this is interesting news, because here comes the civil rights aspect of this, i.e., cultural. Well, this is going to be interesting to watch. Jan, it’s great. It’s rare that callers inform me of things I don’t know, but you have done it. You should be very happy and proud. This is a big day.