More on the Dog Situation

I've already described the island dogs a bit below. But the High Court once issued an opinion that dealt with one of the neighborhood dogs. Here's what they had to say:

From Savage v. ASG, 1 ASR2d 102 (1983):

"Jason Savage, age 5, a resident of the public housing enclave at Tafuna, was attacked by a stray dog bearing the improbable name Tweeter. We must paint in broad strokes, a background of the canine situation in this territory and particularly in the Tafuna Governmental Housing Tract.

There are few places on this earth which suffer more than American Samoa from an oversupply of man's so called friend, the dog. Untold thousands of dogs roam the territory...Almost without exception they are mongrels -- scrawny, emaciated, mangy, in-bred, flea-bitten, diseased.

"Sophisticated world travellers usually refer to the dogs of Mexico and China as the worst looking dogs in the world. Compared to the dogs of American Samoa, the dogs of Mexico and China could qualify as best of their class at Madison Square Garden...Twas not always thus. During the Naval Administration a dog without a collar was quickly disposed of by the Fita Fita guard.

[Discussing the dog in question] "A vigilante spirit prevailed and some unidentified person prevailed upon a couple of Tongans to beat Tweeter to death with clubs. It wasn't pretty and the S.P.C.A. would undoubtedly have disapproved but it was effective. So much for Tweeter."