To the editor:

The Journal-World article June 5 regarding the dog-fighting sickened and angered us. People who torture animals for sport are loathsome, twisted and pathetic excuses for human beings. It’s just unbelievable to us that someone can stoop to such barbaric behavior just for gambling. There are so many avenues for betting, poker games, slot machines, the lottery and pari-mutuel. We can’t help but think these people simply enjoy seeing an animal suffer. They didn’t even have moral courage to put the poor animals out of their misery, just dumped them out to die.

We love dogs and have always had several with us to love and spend time with, spoiling them royally and reaping the rewards of their friendship, loyalty and good humor. We can’t conceive of not having them around, they are truly members of the family. We look at the picture in the paper of that poor, miserable dog, mistreated and abused, soon to be put to sleep, all because of someone wanting to have some “fun” and make a little money. Please let there be a fitting punishment for their heartlessness and inhumanity. We hope that if anyone knows who the responsible people are, they’ll come forward so this horrible practice can be stopped.

Craig Tucker,

Judy Northway,

Lawrence