Live Dogs Used as Shark Bait: Facts

Story:

Dogs Used as Live Shark Bait.

Other Versions

1. Fisherman on Réunion Island employ live dogs as bait for shark-fishing.

2. French Islanders using live puppies and kittens as shark bait??

Please stop this senseless abuse to innocent puppies and kittens. French Islander, Mexican and yes American fishermen and hunters are using LIVE puppies and kittens as shark and alligator bait!!. No living being should have to undergo this torture and insurmountable fear!

3. This is really upsetting but so important.

Stray dogs & cats are being skewered on hooks and dragged behind boats as live shark bait. The cruel practice takes place on French-controlled Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

Analysis:

These upsetting stories that come along with a picture claim to show that Fishermen on Reunion Island use Live Dogs as bait for shark-fishing. Sadly, the cruel practice is a fact, but it took place many years back and was not widespread to the extent suggested.

Origin

These stories with horrific pictures of animals (dogs and sometimes kittens as well) impaled on hooks were shared heavily through emails and other online sources later before hitting the mainstream news in mid 2005. After animal rights groups publicized the brutal practice, like shown in the below video, some people however believed that the use of live dogs as bait is a rumor for publicity started by animal rights activists to stop the act of shark fishing all together. Nonetheless, investigations revealed few such real incidents and then came up many online petitions to stop the animal abuse, like on Change.org, Causes.com and Meetup.com.

The Incidents

Paris based Foundation, 30 Millions d’ Amis (Thirty Million Friends Foundation) ran a TV program on their animal rights group’s weekly television show, after they sent a film crew to investigate the cruel practice in Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. They said they found dogs with multiple hooks sunk deep into their paws and snouts. The picture that usually accompanies the story apparently shows a Dog saved from shark-bait fate after it escaped from the fishers. Another Paris-based animal-welfare group Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed that live animals were used as bait on Reunion Island, but said; it is not a common (and widespread) practice.

In Sep. 2005 an amateur fisherman on the Reunion Island was tried and convicted of animal cruelty for inserting hooks into the flesh of a stray pup, to use it as shark bait. According to Clicanoo, a Reunion newspaper, 51-year-old bread delivery person Clain was found guilty of similar crime and was fined 5,000 Euros (U.S. $5,982), though the man claimed it was an accident that the dog stuck into a trap he had set to keep animals away from his chickens. It was also reported that using dogs as shark-bait was only practiced by a small group of amateur fishermen, who usually used dead roadside animals or culled from the Island’s large population of unwanted strays. The rogue shark hunters used to carry on their illicit trade in the dark of night.

Measures Taken

After the issue of animal abuse was brought up by animal-welfare organizations and local authorities, French government issued a statement condemning the practice, and made it illegal for fishing boats to carry any live or dead dogs or cats. Since the initial report in 2005, there were no additional reports of dogs being used as shark-bait in the area.

Screenshot of the website saveourcatsfromfishermen.com

A Video of Cat as Shark-bait

Another video (above one) became popular online claiming to show the practice of using kittens as shark bait. It is a hoax; the video is not real, it is created by mixing shots of kittens being dunked in water and unrelated clips of ocean fishing activity. It does not appear like the cats are really being pierced with hooks; instead, it looks like the cats dangled from wires are actually hanging from some type of harness around its midsection. The website referenced in the video saveourcatsfromfishermen.com, which is taken down now, sold T-shirt claiming (certainly faking) they will donate a portion of the proceeds to animal welfare groups.