We Are All on the Same Team When it Comes to the Battle to Knock Out Dog Fighting!
For the Love of Dog
For Once Let's Fight For Them!
Speeches & Awards at 2:00pm
Scheduled to Appear:
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Join us on Saturday August 15th as the community comes together to Knock Out Dog Fighting!
Saturday August 15, 2009
1:00-3:00pm
Britannia Arms-Alamaden
5027 Almaden Expressway
San Jose, CA 95118
The Knock Out Dog Fighting program is an unprecedented anti-dog fighting campaign that was formed to combat the cruel and inhumane activity of dog fighting. The members of Knock Out Dog Fighting are elite athletes and role models who are experts in their field that are giving back to the community by helping at-risk youth make better choices, develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles - which reduces the potential of involvement in gang related activities...like dog fighting.
Our proactive approach strikes at the core of urban dog fighting by using methods such as youth anti-gang intervention, humane education, community outreach and law enforcement partnerships. In addition to our Public Service Announcements (PSAs), we visit schools, children's groups and juvenile detention centers with the message that it is NOT a symbol of power, strength, or greatness to fight, abuse or torture animals.
Unfortunately, the high profile arrest and conviction of Michael Vick for dog fighting generated more interest in young urban youth. Studies show that the fastest growing segment of dog fighters are 13 to 17 year-old kids. They saw a role model involved and thought "If Vick does it, it's cool." That's why the Knock out Dog Fighting program is so important. We are out in the community, on the ground level with positive role models showing these kids that dog fighting is not cool and that there are healthier ways to boost one's status, make a buck and to live life.
One thing that is unique about our program is we don't just go to schools or juvenile detention centers and tell kids not to fight dogs....we tell them not to abuse animals AND we give them healthy alternatives. We don't go in and say don't do this and don't do that. We bring in positive role models that tell them you CAN do this and you CAN do that and then we show them how! We also provide details about resources where they can go for help to get out of or stay out of gangs: job skill training, gang mediation, substance abuse, domestic violence, tutoring, fitness training, personal development, etc. .We foster hope, teamwork and peaceful coexistence.
The Knock Out Dog Fighting program is working to end violence in our communities and stop the abuse and torture of dogs used for dog fighting. We continue to break new ground by reaching different audiences with the message that abuse, whether to a human or animal, is not a sign of strength, power or greatness.
Knock Out Dog Fighting's Position Statement Regarding Michael Vick's Return to the NFL
MMA fighters Josh "The Punk" Thomson, Paul "The Head Hunter" Buentello, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, and NPC Figure Champion Mona Liza "MO" Reyes
Kris with Cheyenne, Tahoe & Dakota
How do you stop a 30-year old from beating his wife? .. Stop him from abusing animals when he's 12!
Dog fighting is a form of animal abuse and research shows that there is a marked correlation between cruelty to animals and violent crimes against people. Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that most violent offenders have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty. The FBI has rcognized the connection since the 1970s, when its analysis of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children or teenagers. Dog fighters and other animal abusers are some of the most violent offenders in the criminal justice system because they have no value for life.
Deliberate cruelty to animals is a form of violence. Besides being harmful to a living creature capable of suffering and feeling pain, intentional animal cruelty can be one of the earliest and most dramatic indicators that an individual is developing a pattern of seeking power and control by inflicting suffering on others.
We believe one of the best ways to stop the cycle of violence is to teach children and young adults empathy for animals and how to preserve and foster the human-animal bond. If we can stop a child or young adult from abusing animals, we not only save the animals, but we may also prevent him or her from going on to committing violent crimes against people as well.
Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless
is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives." -- Albert Schweitzer
Dog fighting, and all the acts that go along with it – the brutality towards the dogs, the use of weaker animals as bait, the agony inflicted in the fighting pit, the execution-style killing of dogs – cannot be described by any reasonable person as anything less than horrific abuse. Dog fighting is huge and it's going on every where. Sadly, as you read this, there is a dog somewhere being forced to fight for his life. He is being viciously ripped apart by another dog or tortured by his owner because he didn't want to fight...or because he lost. And while that is horrifying to thing about, it doesn't make it any less true. We can't hide from this knowledge any longer and we can't keep turning our heads.
Don't just condemn dog fighting....Do something about it!
Join us on August 15th and help us Knock Out Dog Fighting!
A special THANK YOU to Cloud 9 Limousine for assisting with transportation!
