Dog Mutilations

[James_H]

In Fear and loathing on the campaign trail '76, Hunter S. Thompson refers to a radio news broadcast about dog mutilations (possibly in Florida). They report that the mutilator is a "stocky middle-aged cuban known as 'Castrato'". The dogs (some 51 of them) were all castrated, in a very precise manner.
Was this a real event? Urban Legend? Thompson just making stuff up?

 

[Bannik]

Could it have had something to do with Americans' fear at the Cubans of the time combined with certain subconscious images Fidel Castro's name may have conjured up in the American psyche? Or maybe the "broadcast" is more reflective of Hunter's own personal anxieties at the time.

 

[hedgewizard1]

I would guess it was something he made up. It's the sort of thing he'd add to enhance the "fear and loathing" aspect. Personally, I always preferred "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas".