Posted on 06/25/2013 10:39:03 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Florida Teen Charged With Animal Cruelty After Video Showing Shootings of Trapped Animals Is Posted Online
17-year-old charged with felony animal cruelty and discharging a weapon in a residential area
A 17-year-old from Florida is facing an animal cruelty charge after video showing him shooting and killing a trapped raccoon and possum was posted online, authorities said.
The Melbourne teen was arrested on charges of felony animal cruelty and discharge of a weapon in a residential area and was being held at the Brevard County Juvenile Detention Center, the Brevard Sheriff's Office said Monday.
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Authorities said an investigation was begun after video of the teen shooting the caged animals was posted on Facebook and YouTube Monday. The video shows the raccoon moving around in the cage before it's shot with what looks like a rifle before it writhes around inside the cage. Then the possum is shot in the same manner.
"Our agency received a number of telephone and social media tips from our citizens who were rightfully outraged over the actions posted on YouTube and Facebook. Our Agents immediately addressed the issue, working with the State Attorney's Office to ensure that those responsible for the cruel activities were charged," Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a statement. "These actions are thoroughly disturbing and the Sheriff’s Office greatly appreciates all who called to report the incident."
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The incident is still being investigated and anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff office Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
What’s wrong with shooting nuisance animals? I guarantee raccoons and possums are NOT desirable in the vicinity of your house.
I’d rather not kill them if I don’t have to but that just forces me to break another law by transporting them without a permit.
SSS - the kid violated the third S.
Nuisance wildlife is wildlife that...Doesn't say anything about shooting them one way of the other. GA is a lot more sensible about nuisance animals.causes (or is about to cause) property damage, presents a threat to public safety, or causes an annoyance within, under or upon a building. Human activities can attract certain wildlife species looking for an easy high-calorie meal or shelter under a convenient structure. Unfortunately this can bring them into conflict with the interests of people, and the wildlife can be considered to be a nuisance. Most wildlife/human conflicts can be resolved by removing the attractant. If removing the attractant is not feasible or has been tried and is not working, other measures to remove nuisance wild animals can be taken. Trapping a nuisance animal should be a matter of last resort. Before removing an animal, please read the nuisance wildlife regulations and information.
If the situation involves a wild animal, such as a raccoon, opossum, armadillo or snake - the Commission allows landowners to take nuisance wildlife under certain conditions. You also may give permission to another individual to take nuisance animals for you. Consult the FWC's list of Nuisance Wildlife Trappers that Operate in Your County. Most trappers will charge a fee for their services.
Heck, “varmint” is generally recognized as a hunting season here in Texas.
Wrong: shoot on video and post videos on the internet.
Right: shoot, shovel, shut up.
You can’t miss with a Havahart.
>> What’s wrong with shooting nuisance animals?
As long as they’re humans at the fetal stage, it’s A-OK, fire away.
But an ANIMAL!!?! No way, Jose!
Yeah we have a lot of varmints coming in.
This country is so f****d
Wow, I think the world has gone nuts. I routinely dispatch possums, and raccoons in my backyard. It's not illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits here (as long as the projectile doesn't cross a property line), and nuisance animals..it's okay to shoot them.
IIRC, the anal sacs on a possum are a favorite fo the larvae which grows up to cause Chaga's disease, and we've had positive hits for Chaga's here in the TX hill country amongst Chaga's bugs.
Now between the yellow jacket story, and the disease vector possum animal cruelty story, I am all itchy..ugh.
Wild animals usually do not die a peaceful death. Usually, they are bitten to death by another animal, starve, die slowly and painfully from diseases, etc.
Being shot is probably the quickest death a wild animal can expect.
Not having the video to examine, one may surmise that a brain shot may have caused the uncontrolled thrashing, if the very limited description in the article was correct.
In any case, what is happening is a show arrest/trail to come wherein the animal rights activists plan to go fund raising and the ‘Possum Police’ plan to grandstand to their animal rights whacko buddies/colleagues.
Had the shooter been black, nothing would have been said. Why? Look up “Possum and Taters”.
Very sad. Very true. Makes me want to spit. Half tempted to stop reading the news.
I live in the country, not a city or town, so I’m in the animals’ territory, not the other way around, and deer fencing makes it easier to me and them to co-exist. Rabid varmints or those attacking livestock-including chickens-are hunted and dispatched. Otherwise, the wildlife is left strictly alone, except for watching and admiring it as one of God’s creations.
I sometimes hunt-deer-hunting is a sport. There is nothing sportsmanlike in shooting a caged animal, varmint or not-it is simply animal cruelty. I would beat the crap out of a kid of mine if they had killed a caged animal-probably send them to a therapist, too...
False - how would you deal with a caged nuisance animal? Feed them and let them out? Do you consider killing rats cruelty? Mice? Cockroaches? Where do you draw the line?
I was brought up on my family’s small working/subsistance ranch-I’m not some city wuss who does not understand life and death in the natural world-some wild animals are hunted, livestock are slaughtered, and both get put in the freezer-but none of us condone cruelty, or the wasting of natural resources for any reason.
I draw the line at the willful cruelty of shooting a trapped animal-raccoons and possums aren’t dangerous bears, or wolverines. And I don’t hunt/kill animals I don’t intend to eat-I don’t shoot animals for being in my yard not bothering anything.
You might as well shoot a cat, small dog or bird. Or you could go on a hunt like this:
There are “hunting clubs” in some places that trap trophy animals of all kinds, and “hunters” pay big bucks to shoot these trapped creatures. These “hunts” are not “sport” of any kind, and are usually busted when a game warden finds about them, and people can go to jail, too. The kid shooting that trapped raccoon and possum sounds like the type who will grow up to do some “hunting” at one of those clubs...
I have cats who keep my house mouse and rat free, but if you don’t, you set traps for mice and rats-the kind that snap and kill instantly-and you spray Raid for insects.
I don’t know any varmint hunters who shoot trapped animals-if you catch the animal in the act of grabbing chickens-which is what usually happens-you take your .22 and you shoot it right there. If it gets away before you can do that, you go hunt it in the woods and shoot it there, leave the remains for the scavengers-they have to eat, too. But you don’t shoot it in a cage/trap.
Is there any evidence that the kid was trapping the animals because they were a nuisance? If yes, no problem, but if the kid was trapping them and shooting them (not hunting them in the wild, which is fine) just to get his jollies, he’s a jerk.
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