Animal rights activists were enraged Thursday by a photo circulating online they said showed dog fighting by employees at the Memphis Animal Shelter.
In the photo, which was taken by one of the shelter’s webcams on Wednesday, two shelter employees can be seen along with two pit bulls that are fighting.
Shirley Thistlewaite, a blogger in South Carolina, put the photo online, leaving the impression that the shelter employees were intentionally fighting pit bulls in the shelter.
“A reader sent me the photo,” said Thistlewaite. “She saw it when she was watching the web cams.”
The photo received more than 100 negative comments from the blog’s readers. Thistlewaite said she regularly puts up photos from the Memphis Animal Shelter.
“They don’t explain when we ask,” said Thistlewaite.
Video from the shelter web cams shows an employee walking two dogs on leashes. They appeared calm, until one dog attacks the other. The shelter employee controls the dogs, then another employee comes from around the corner and they eventually break up the dogs.
Thistlewaite watched the video from the shelter.
“I feel relieved that it’s not apparently criminal in nature,” she said. “It doesn’t appear to be criminal dog fighting.”
Source WMCTV
