Skid Row’s UnderDogs: Volunteers Confront Widespread Dog Abuse in LA
The dogs here are “disposable," volunteers say.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — “We have to hurry up. They’re about to leave,” Victoriah Parker told me as we were walking through Skid Row. We were heading towards the first dog in need while Parker was giving me the lay of the land of what she and volunteers with Starts With One Today see in their efforts to help the dogs who are trapped living on the streets.
Unsurprisingly, it’s beyond vile. I know the tendency is to not want to watch dogs suffering. I didn’t either. However, I ask you to not look away and join me in sharing their suffering and misery so their story gets amplified loudly enough to end this for good.
In addition to overbreeding to maintain an income, drug users also test their drugs on dogs to avoid overdosing and, according to Parker, they have seen cases of humans raping the dogs.
“The dog is literally about to die,” Parker emphasized to the others in our group to pick up the pace. We ran the last block.
Once we got to where the dog was, I could see Parker was not exaggerating.
The dog, Bishop, was covered in wounds that were infected, her fur was mangy, she was so thin her ribs could be seen, and she had a look of defeat in her eyes. What made the situation even worse was Bishop had been seen in much better condition by SWOT only a few months ago. The abuse and neglect she suffered in a short amount of time had brought her to the brink of death. A SWOT volunteer quickly drove Bishop away to the veterinarian.
Parker and Joey Tuccio were my guides for this assignment. While SWOT provides care to the humans of Skid Row, they focus on the four-legged residents as well. In a city that is filled with dog owners, Parker and Tuccio are heavily critical of the city and county governments of Los Angeles for allowing the abuse to continue.
WATCH:
It did not take long before SWOT found another dog needing urgent medical care. Kit Kat broke her legs after jumping out a window of a car and got tangled up by her leash, her caretaker claimed. Kit Kat laid in the front seat, whining in pain. The man said he tried to take her to a veterinarian but could not afford the evaluation. SWOT ordered a Lyft to bring Kit Kat and the man to one of the veterinarians the organization works with. Kit Kat cried out in pain as she was transferred to the Lyft.
Driving around Skid Row, Tuccio and Parker point out seemingly every few feet to where they either rescued a dog from its drug-addled “owners,” broke up a dog fighting ring, or where a dog died from an overdose after eating drugs or was tested on.
The dogs here are “disposable,” Tuccio lamented.
“They lose a dog, they get another one. A dog dies, they get another one…It just never ends.”
We passed by another dog that was tied up to an RV. Nobody was “home.” While the dog had access to food and water, it was out in the sun with no bed. If the dog wanted to get shade, it would have to crawl under the RV.
Right before we called it a day, we saw a man walking a dog who had a big limp. We got out of the car and went down the block to see if we could help.
The man claimed a large piece of glass on the ground cut his paw three days ago. The paw had swollen to the point where it did not look like a dog’s paw, but rather a twisted version of a hoof. The dog licked his paw, in vain, every couple of seconds. Used syringes and hypodermic needles laid on the ground a few feet away. The man accepted SWOT’s offer to bring the dog to the veterinarian to be treated.
Tuccio and Parker admit their efforts to get medical care and supplies to the dogs on Skid Row is not the solution to end the animals’ suffering. As is a common thread when it comes to quality of life in Los Angeles, the problem lies with leaders not doing enough to enforce the laws already on the books. If you’re living on the street, the rules of pet ownership seemingly do not apply to you or are haphazardly imposed.
When Mayor Karen Bass was asked about the lack of enforcement in July of last year, she at first said there was “suffering” but then said the animals are “not neglected” because dogs are allowed to go into shelters for the homeless. She did not directly address the question about the lack of enforcement.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO: