Stray and stolen dogs are being skewered on hooks and dragged behind boats as live baits by amateur fisherman on Reunion Island (a French controlled island for the coast of Southern Africa east of Madagascar).

First spotted in 2005 by European media, the practise still continues in secret today. Scientific studies states the island is bursting with over 150,000 stray dogs. Many locals view all dogs as vermin and because of this they don’t care about the animals rights.

October of 2005, the first court case was held involving a person charged with using live dogs as bait. Authorities had found a seven-month-old puppy on John Claude Clain's property in July with three fishing hooks in its paws and snout.

Clain, a 51-year-old bread delivery person, was found guilty of animal cruelty and fined 5,000 Euros (U.S. $5,982), according to Clicanoo, a Réunion newspaper.

According to the same newspaper.

- Once a dog is capture they are hooked, the day before, so they can bleed sufficiently.
- Some escape before being tossed into the ocean. Others aren't so lucky.
- After hooks are plunged into their paws and/or snouts, the animals are attached to inflatable tubes with fishing line and dumped into the ocean.
-To avoid detection fishers place their bait in the middle of the night, according to the newspaper account. In the morning the men return to see if a shark has been caught.
- Such a horrific way to die.

It has now become illegal for fishing boats to carry any live or dead dogs on the island.
The French Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued a written statement condemning the use of dogs as shark bait, emphasizing that such acts are illegal and will not be tolerated in the French territory.

PLEASE PROTECT ME

I NEED YOU NOW

Join with The Black Book Organisation and with our animal rights partner. We will continue the effort off stamping out the use of dogs as bait. Through continued pressure on the government, Together we will give these dogs a voice.