PETA Executive Urges Amazon to Remove Animal Fighting Books

By Jason Boog 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) executive vice president Tracy Reiman urged Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos to remove animal fighting books like The Art Of Cockfighting: A Handbook for Beginners and Old Timers and Dogs of Velvet and Steel: Pit Bulldogs: A Manual for Owners.

The open letter arrived one day after the The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure eBook was removed from the online bookseller’s digital catalog.  What do you think? Should Amazon remove other handbooks involving illegal activity? Where should the bookseller draw the line?

The complete letter (PDF here) follows below, but here’s an excerpt: “In light of Amazon’s recent decision to stop selling an e-book on pedophilia, I urge you to protect other vulnerable beings by ending sales of products that promote other cruel and illegal activities, such as dogfighting and cockfighting … Animals, like children, depend on us to protect them and put their best interests above profits. Please, don’t be complicit in cruelty to animals: Do the right thing and stop selling products that promote criminal violence against living beings.”

Jeffrey P. Bezos
President and CEO
Amazon.com

Dear Mr. Bezos:

PETA is the world’s largest animal rights organization, with more than 2 million members and supporters dedicated to animal protection. In light of Amazon’s recent decision to stop selling an e-book on pedophilia, I urge you to protect other vulnerable beings by ending sales of products that promote other cruel and illegal activities, such as dogfighting and cockfighting.

Currently available on Amazon.com are The Art Of Cockfighting—A Handbook for Beginners and Old Timers, Dogs of Velvet and Steel, and other books that promote illegal animal fighting and teach people how to take part in these activities. An excerpt from Dogs of Velvet and Steel reads, “I feel that the Pit Bull should be allowed to go for a good long time or well two-dogged to determine the strength of the inherited gameness. The Pit Bull will heal up just fine afterwards.”

These books encourage people to become involved in dogfighting and cockfighting—cruel and illegal activities that are rampant across the country. Roosters used in cockfights are fitted with sharp razors that rip through flesh and bone, causing agonizing and fatal injuries. Dogs used in fighting rings are typically kept in tiny cages or outdoors on heavy chains 24 hours a day, where they’re starved, beaten, and taunted into aggression. If they lose a fight, they are often shot, drowned, or burned alive. As the public outcry surrounding Michael Vick’s dogfighting case showed, the American public—along with federal law-enforcement authorities—is vehemently opposed to this cruelty.

High-stakes gambling, weapons, violence, and illegal drugs are often a large part of animal fighting events, and they pose a threat to residents of communities in which these events take place. What’s more, numerous studies have shown that people who abuse animals often go on to commit similar crimes against humans.

Animals, like children, depend on us to protect them and put their best interests above profits. Please, don’t be complicit in cruelty to animals: Do the right thing and stop selling products that promote criminal violence against living beings. Please contact me at TracyR@peta.org so that I may inform our members that you have taken action. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President