Spanish Persecution of Indians, 16th Century
War dogs had been taught to attack the enemy since antiquity, but the numbers brought to and then bred in the New World far exceed what is known about any other military use of attack dogs. Armored hounds were set loose on the naked New World natives. Acts of brutality in the Caribbean and the systematic annihilation the native population prompted Dominican friar Bartolome de las Casas to write A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1552. Las Casas wrote about conquistadors training dogs to attack and kill natives: The Spaniards train their fierce dogs to attack, kill and tear to pieces the Indians... The Spaniards keep alive their dogs appetite for human beings in this way. They have Indians brought to them in chains, then unleash the dogs. The Indians come meekly down the roads and are killed. And the Spaniards have butcher shops where the corpses of Indians are hung up, on display, and someone will come in and say, more or less, Give me a quarter of that rascal hanging there, to feed my dogs until I can kill another one for them. 16th century engraving credited to Theodor de Bry
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