Savage Pilgrims: Dog Food

Savage Pilgrims:  Dog Food

The dogs that the Spaniards brought were large, strong breeds such as mastiffs and greyhounds, trained to kill.  Dogs had been used in European warfare clear back to the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Persians, which is where the phrase “let loose the dogs of war” came from. 

 In Europe, the warfare was against armored opponents, and the dogs often wore armor themselves.  In the Caribbean, where the people were naked, and in the New World in general where warfare was practically unknown in the European sense (large battles of extermination), the dogs were murderously effective.  

The invaders would set loose the dogs and they would easily kill and maim the terrorized people. 

Infants’ bodies are soft, and were quite a tasty treat for the dogs, so the Spaniards regularly fed infants to their dogs, alive, and at times while the horrorstricken parents watched.  The Spaniards had contests to see who could cut a living person in half with one stroke of the sword.  They would test the sharpness of their blades by beheading the nearest handy native.[ 

During the Western Hemisphere's rape during the next century, natives often became nothing more than dog food.  An Inca conquistador described a dog food storage technique:

 “…when I came from Cartagena, I saw a Portuguese named Roque Martín, who had the quarters of Indians hanging on a porch to feed his dogs with, as if they were wild beasts…”

 

Butcher shops throughout the Caribbean region during the years of conquest sold Indian bodies as dog food. One practice, used on the Guanches as another prelude to New World events, was known as the montería infernal, the infernal chase, or manhunt.  Instead of hunting foxes, the conquistadors would hunt natives with their dogs in a jaunty outing.  The dogs feasted on their hapless prey.  The montería infernal became a favorite pastime of many conquistadors, such as Hernando de Soto.  

Another event to pass the time and provide entertainment was to pit a naked native, sometimes armed with a stick, against a dog.  It was reminiscent of the Roman Coliseum.  The dogs killed their human prey by disemboweling them, although jugular attack was also used, which sometimes led to decapitation.  The natives came to fear being thrown to the dogs more than any other fate.