When three tigers attacked a worker at an exotic animal park in southwestern Missouri on Monday all eyes were on the Pit Bull. In an attempt to cover up the tiger attack, the owners and associates at the park went ahead and cleaned up the site, telling authorities that the victim had been attacked by a Pit Bull. Only later during the weekend were authorities told what really happened, and were subsequently led to the tiger’s carcass, which had been taken to another property as part of the cover up.
Sandra Smith, one of the owners of the Wesa-A-Geh-Ya animal park, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she had initially misled authorities because she feared the facility’s animals would be euthanized if authorities learned the truth. Why did the investigators not question why a Pit Bull would have been inside of the park in the first place? And how could someone, who allegedly is a supporter and lover of animals, use one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented breeds to take the fall for an attack carried out by a wild animal?!
This story is just another example of the way in which Pit Bulls are viewed in our society, and here we have yet another person that has worked to further the hysteria and stereotypes surrounding these animals. The fact that no one initially questioned the fact that a dog attacked someone inside of a wild animal park enclosure is saddening, but the fact that the owners of the animal park would even choose to cover up the incident by wrongfully blaming the Pitbull is even more so.
No arrests have been made in the case, and no one from the animal facility has been charged with any wrongdoing, despite the fact that in 2003, the Smiths surrendered their license to exhibit the animals. Their license was later revoked after the USDA said there were violations at the site, including gaps in fencing where lions and tigers lived.
The person injured in the attack has undergone surgery on their leg and is expected to make a full recovery.
Story – Missouri Tiger Attack Blamed on Pit Bull
It is people like this that give pitbulls a bad name. And it is insane that nobody even thought twice about it, here’s a place filled with wild animals and it had to be a pitbull that just goes to show how ignorant our society really is!!!!
The truly tragic element in this story is the fact that it was perceived as highly credible. It goes without saying that this is a consequence of breed demonization by the press, which has long since abandoned journalistic integrity and a meaningful, sincere search for the truth in favor of sensationalism. “The Truth” is for sale to the highest bidder, which is to say advertisers. Readers love to be titillated and it is human nature to seek validation for one’s belief system, however warped and inaccurate it may be. More readers/viewers = more sales/market share = higher advertising rates. Simple math. Truth is prostituted and the press is the pimp. It’s about the bucks, folks, and conscience does not enter the equation. In this mentality, what’s a few dogs, more or less?