Editorial: York County animal torture cases are disturbing

Humans have mistreated animals for eons in ways that range from routine cruelty to grisly torture. But we like to believe that, over centuries, human interaction with animals has evolved as we come to understand the mental and emotional complexity of many species.

The idea that animals are mere dumb beasts put on earth to serve mankind now seems laughable. We now know that many of these “beasts” – including those we routinely eat – have advanced thinking, reasoning and communication skills, a large range of emotions and sophisticated social lives with others of their kind and often with humans, as well.

Armed with that knowledge, it becomes harder and harder for most humans to discount animal cruelty as something visited on a creature with minimal capacity to understand what is happening to it or to fully experience the pain. The growing understanding of the intellect of animals has, in fact, helped create a lot of vegetarians.

But the cruelty hasn’t ceased. And while the routine cruelty – the overcrowded poultry operations, the puppy mills, the inhumane slaughter houses – shocks us because of the scale of such enterprises, the cases of individual torture tend to disturb us at a deeper level.

Some recent incidents in York County have had that nightmarish quality. In February, Rock Hill police were alerted to a group of teens who appeared to be hurting a puppy.

When officers arrived at an apartment complex, they found a puppy, about 6 weeks old, severely wounded. After the pup was taken to a local veterinarian’s office, X-rays revealed he had been shot 18 times with a BB gun. The pellets were left in the dog’s skin and muscle because using anesthesia in an operation to remove them would have been too dangerous.

The dog also had been manhandled and cut. Witnesses said torturers had thrown a knife at him several times.

Two suspects, ages 14 and 17, later were arrested and charged with cruelty to animals.

In a happy ending, hundreds who read the story of Brody, as he was named, volunteered to adopt him, and he now lives with a loving family.

Last month, a pit bull mix was found near death in a wooded area of Rock Hill. The dog had multiple gashes and cuts all over its body, and had lost circulation in its back legs.

A local real estate agent stumbled across the the dog, named Rambo, after she took a wrong turn on her way to show a piece of property. She took the dog to a veterinary hospital, where part of his back right leg was amputated. He might still lose his back left leg.

Vets believe the severe wounds, many of them apparently bite wounds, were connected in some way to a blood sport. Rock Hill police, who are investigating the case along with York County Animal Control, speculate that Rambo could have been used as a “bait” dog during the training of fighting dogs.

The local chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of animals has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the injuries to Rambo.

Last weekend, a Rock Hill family returned home to find one of their 3-month-old puppies horribly mutilated and burned. The pups, a litter of four, had been put in a kennel in the backyard for safe keeping, but all were running loose.

The injured dog, Farley, was bleeding profusely from his genital area. Someone apparently had cut the dog’s genitals, pulled them from his body and then burned the area around the wound.

Farley survived and is recovering at home.

These incidents obviously are not confined to York County. A Great Dane mix was found wandering in Darlington last week with duct tape covering her head and mouth, apparently having been left to die. The dog, which also is undernourished and suffering from heartworms, will have a long and difficult recovery.

But while such cases might be widespread, the series of incidents in York County brings the problem home. We know we have serious animal abusers in our own backyard.

This is frightening not only for the harm they might cause family pets or other animals, but also because of the violent mental state of the abusers. Their next victims could be humans.

Anyone who has information about someone who might be guilty of overt cruelty to animals should contact the police or York County Animal Control.

And the state of South Carolina needs to do more to crack down on blood sports and increase the penalties for those who engage in them.

The urge to torture any living thing is a mental sickness we need to be aware of and confront in all its manifestations.

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Editorial: York County animal torture cases are disturbing."