Posted on 09/15/2019 12:13:39 PM PDT by NorseViking
A Florida man who dragged a shark to its death from a high-speed boat has been jailed for 10 days.
Robert Benac III will pay a $2,500 fine, perform 250 hours of service at an animal shelter and lose his fishing licence for three years after pleading guilty to misdemeanour of animal cruelty.
Benac accepted the plea deal just as he was about to go on trial on Thursday for a more severe felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals, according to The Bradenton Herald.
A second man, Michael Wenzel, accepted a similar plea deal over the incident in February and he was also required to serve 10 days in jail over five weekends.
It is understood charges were dropped against a third man, Spencer Heintz, who was also arrested.
The case came to light when the video of the men dragging the shark behind a boat in July 2017 went viral.
The men can be heard laughing in the footage which was posted on social media.
Robert Benac has been jailed for 10 days. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office) Robert Benac has been jailed for 10 days. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office) Look, its already almost dead, one of the men says in the video as he points towards the shark.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission launched an investigation into the video.
Read more
Following the incident, other videos emerged showing the men shooting a shark and pouring alcohol down the throats of live fish.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Almost as much time as an Affluenza sufferer who paid big bribes to get their kid into prestigious schools but I’ll bet his jail won’t be nearly as nice.
While I personally approve of jail time for stupidity, Im not sure taxpayers are well-served by such a public policy.
I cannot say this strongly enough. There is something seriously wrong with people who will do this to an animal.
The punishment was far too lenient.
Florida Man strikes again!
Cowardly little man.
Chum the waters and set them a-swimmin’ or maybe drag them from a boat, like they did with the shark.
If they did such things to animals, what might they do to people?
What is wrong with these people, that they would commit such acts & then put them on social media for everyone to see?
They should’ve also been made to pay a heavy fine & many, many, MANY more hours of community service taking care of critters to make up for these crimes.
Next thing you know they’ll throw someone in jail for shooting a rattlesnake.
I don’t think we have a shortage of sharks.
My thought exactly. I know I am in minority now but thought a jail term for it is too much. Although it doesn’t make these gentleman good guys.
My thought exactly. I know I am in minority now but thought a jail term for it is too much. Although it doesn’t make these gentleman good guys.
Agreed.
...perform 250 hours of service at an animal shelter...
I’m sure he’ll treat the animals great!!
It’s like making a child molester do tutoring for 250 hours.
But a shark killing people was/is okay?
I know they don't have a spinal cord like fish, but Chefs drop live lobsters in boiling water.
I agree that wanton emotions show lack of character, but can we at least confine the penalty for cruelty to mammals that have a nervous system like our's?
I myself have bludgeoned a snake to death when my only handy tool was a stick.
It may have been stupid, but hardly a crime deserving jail sentence.
drag a shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo,
go to jail, doo doo doo doo doo doo,
drag a shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo,
go to jail!
There was a time, still around after I was born, when one of the most powerful societal controls was shame. When you have a society without shame, then the only available punishments come from government control, or taking the law into one’s own hands, neither of which tend to end well.
Benac, the animal abuser, just happens to be the son of a local County Commissioner.
Hence, the light sentence that was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
There is never a reason, much less a good reason to treat even the most vicious of animals cruelly. It proves them better then we as they kill to sustain themselves, not for the pleasure of killing.
That said I’m curious as to the moral, and mighty social media allowing the video while they ban, cancel, censure conservative media. Quite curious.
I saw the footage of them laughing and grinning in court. If I were the judge and saw that I would have slammed them with the max sentences and fines possible. Affluent, arrogant, scumbags.
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