The Rittenhouse Review

A Philadelphia Journal of Politics, Finance, Ethics, and Culture


Thursday, February 02, 2006  

PLUMBING THE DEPTHS OF DECENCY
Ideas from the Truly Despicable

Surely by now you've heard of this disgrace, reported, among other places, in "Heroin Implants Turned Puppies Into Drug Mules, U.S. Says ," by Al Baker and William K. Rashbaum, in today's New York Times:

A Colombian drug trafficking organization was readying purebred puppies as drug couriers by surgically implanting large packets of liquid heroin into their bodies to ship them to the United States, federal officials said yesterday.

Ten puppies, including several Labrador retrievers, were discovered on a farm in a makeshift veterinary clinic in Medellín, Colombia, during a raid about a year ago, said John P. Gilbride, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division. He said surgical tools and a table for operations were found in the clinic. […]

"Throughout my 25-year career, this is one of the most outrageous methods of smuggling that I personally have encountered," Mr. Gilbride said.

A law enforcement official said the puppies were going to be presented as show dogs to get them past Customs inspectors at airports in the United States. In reality, their fate appeared grim.

Asked how the drugs would be extracted from the puppies, one law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing, said, "I don't think there was any real indication, but I don't think they were going to be real careful."

What shall we call this? A crime against caninity?

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