Cruelty to animals: Where is the line?

[DemoTex]

I was behind two pickup trucks on I-20 today, one in Mississippi and one in Texas, which had dogs riding in the open beds with the fucking tailgates down! One dog constantly ran from one side to the other, hopping up on the side for a blast of wind. In both cases the trucks were doing 70+ mph. In both cases I slowed way down to get as far back as possible to keep from watching misshaps which appeared to be inevitable. I see dead dogs on the side of the interstate and have to wonder if some of them weren't the victims of their "caretaker's" stupidity ... and cruelty.

[scarlet_owl]

1. That is very dangerous

I have seen many dogs that have fallen out of the back of pickup trucks and have lost limbs. Those dogs are the lucky ones. These people are irresponsible. Shame on them.

[roguevalley]

2. some states have laws about restraining animals in the backs

of cars. You might check yours.

[DemoTex]

3. Mississippi and Texas usually aren't on the cutting edge of animal rights.

But where the hell is common sense? Do these morons not love their pets, or are the pets just part of the macho-pickup bullshit show? There is a perverted pickup-truck bumpersticker in the South which shows a couple of snarling pit bulls and reads: When the Tailgate Drops, the Bullshit Stops. Maybe that southern redneck mentality is totally inscrutable to more sensitive people. Maybe that's why it is so totally frightening.

On edit: I guess that is the same atavistic mentality that Faulkner and Crews and Dickey conveyed in their works. Squeal like a pig!

[blondeatlast]

4. Hubby and I called the troopers when we saw this once.

Trooper wasn't far, and we saw him stop the prick. That poor dog was absolutely exhausted and frantic. We stopped, the trooper told us the guy wasn't going anywhere til the AC people got there.

That state trooper was doing all he could to restrain himself; the guy seemed to be keeping his mouth shut--if he had said anything, I think the trooper would have done something he would live to regret.

Jesus, I can't believe our experience wasn't just a fluke.

[DemoTex]

5. Good for you!

I came very close to calling *HP or 911, but never did. I guess I hoped these fools were locals who were on I-20 from exit-to-exit, as it were.

[blondeatlast]

6. That's what we thought at first, but when he passed (shame face on) three

exits, we finally called. I still wonder about that poor dog.

Forgot to mention--this wasn't a PU, it was a forking FLATBED. How the pooch even survived, I don't know.

[Cheswick2.0]

7. .

.

[RebelOne]

8. Yes, I saw the same thing yesterday.

The dog was in the back of the pickup unrestrained. I wanted to slow down and holler at that dumb, idiot redneck driver. And he was a redneck from what I could see. I live in North Georgia and there are so many times that I have seen this. Some states have a law against people or animals in the backs of trucks. I think Florida has one.