Two more stories of animal cruelty....

What the is going on with people anymore??? On what freaking planet do kids think it's cool to torture an animal, and then BRING IT TO SCHOOL to show it off??? And if you can't freaking feed your animals...give them to someone who can, or even have the humanity to have them euthanized, for God sakes!!! morons.

2 Teens In Trouble After Duct Taping Goose
(WCCO)
Two high school seniors are getting a real-life lesson in the law.


John Miller and Dane Rockstead go to Wayzata High School and both are charged with animal cruelty after investigators said they abused a goose and brought it to school.

"The bird appeared to be in pretty significant distress," said Chief Mike Goldstein with the Plymouth Police Department.

Police said the two seniors had the bird for two days before they brought it to school in a backpack.

"They actually shot it with a paint ball gun, put a net around it and then I believe put it in a kennel ... and they kept it overnight, and at some point brought it into the school," said Goldstein.

Investigators said the boys then tortured the goose even more. At some point they encircled the body with duct tape which caused the bird a lot of distress.


"It was dehydrated, it was in distress, they have to wait for all the feathers to fall off, and they have to clip many of them off because the duct tape did so much damage," said the Chief.

Students who witnessed the prank were shaken up and didn't think it was funny.

"A lot of people were talking about it. They just didn't agree with it all -- they thought it was really bad, and it just doesn't look good," said Senior Jennifer Wick.

The school district said it disciplined the students.

The two teenagers could be fined $1,000 and serve up to 90 days in jail.

Experts said when birds are stressed like this, they often die, so they think this goose is pretty tough.

The rehab center plans to release it back into the wild Wednesday.

http://wcco.com/pets/goose.duct.tape.2.739680.html

19 Horses Discovered Dead On Minnesota Farm

HEWITT, Minn. (WCCO) ― Investigators are looking into what happened to 19 horses found dead on a farm in Hewitt, Minn.

Horses wandering on a road pointed Todd County sheriff's deputies to the problem.

When they went to the farm, they found bones and carcasses of horses scattered everywhere; some have been there for months.

A humane investigator with the Animal Humane Society is part of this investigation. They say a man in his 60s owns the farm as well as the animals.

"We have horrible pictures. I haven't seen such horrible pictures in the 20 years I've been doing this," said Drew Fitzpatrick, who is taking care of the few horses found alive.

She founded and runs a non-profit organization that cares for neglected horses called Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation.

"We take in the horses that have no where else to go," said Fitzpatrick.

Last week Fitzpatrick picked up the nine horses still alive on the farm, and now she's caring for them at her farm in Sherburne County.

"Food. That's all they needed and they weren't getting that simplest element of life. They were not getting food," she said.

The horses she now has need that food, medical care and dental care. Some of them are so thin you can see their ribs, and they also have parasites.

The man who owned the horses turned them over to investigators, and then they gave them to Fitzpatrick. He just couldn't take care of them anymore.

"I think that people are just having to make a decision on whether or not to pay their mortgages, feed their kids, or take care of the animals, and I think the animals are getting the short-end of the stick," said Wade Hanson, a humane investigator with the Animal Humane Society.

Hanson is going to push the Todd County Attorney for criminal charges in this case. So far, the county attorney has not charged the owner who has been in jail for the last month on another unrelated charge.

Now his horses are with Fitzpatrick recovering. She's helped other animals recover, and she believes in just three months, these horses will be much stronger and much healthier.

Hewitt is located almost three hours northwest of the Twin Cities.

http://wcco.com/pets/horses.dead.hewitt.2.740689.html

This is the main reason I switched majors when I was in college. I was taking animal law to become a hsus investigator but after learning how lenient animal cruelty laws where. It just seemed like a waste. I found other means to make a difference. Also Just sucks they will just get slapped with a fine.

I think both offenses are "eligible" for jail time, but I'd lay odds they'll never get it.

And yeah, I know EXACTLY what you mean. It's too heartbreaking to fight this stuff all the time only to see the people walk away dang near without any sort of ramifications.

*sigh*

one of my coworkers who also work part time at a vet office brought in a baby kitten yesterday. Apparently it was dropped off at the vet by someone who found the unweaned baby. It seemed that a gang of kids (teens?) ran the mother over with a car and then stomped the babies to death. The one kitten survived because it was able to get up under a stair step and hide.

I have a kitten in my kitchen right now that my son found yesterday. I don't know what happened to the kitten or where it came from~ but it had to be bad. My son found it in our wood pile~ we are a good 1/4 mile from the closest house~ further from any significant cross streets. The kitten is MAYBE 6-8 weeks old. It's tail has been broken off and healed~ you can see that this is an older injury as the tail end is healed up~ what is left is about 3 inches long and bent on the end. The fresher injuries include a small wound on his side almost healed, almost no skin at all on the inside of one rear thigh scabbed over, and most of the right ear is destroyed and that one looks fresh (I'm keeping an eye on it and may take him to the vet to have the ear removed). It's a tough little thing~ hisses a lot but purrs and purrs when you get your hands on him (we kind of wonder if it's not brain damaged......it's certainly goes between hissy and lovey at the drop of a hat!). I don't think I'll bother to ask around if anyone lost him~ we'll just get him healed up, nuetured and I guess I'll have 6 cats now.