I don't usually do this sort of thing but I feel very strongly about these actions. These girls should be avoided by animal sellers for the rest of their lives.
That being said, If this is inappropriate of in poor form for the BOI, This BOI post may be removed by the moderators.
Just to get their names listed so that reptile breeders who search the BOI in the future will know who they are and what they did:
Danielle Susan Ruger and Faith Hope are the two Orange Park Girls who tortured and killed a gopher tortoise. There is an additional thread about this here:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=484883
News article is here:
http://members.jacksonville.com/news...Times-Union%29
Full text of the news article:
The graphic video shows two Orange Park girls burning a small gopher tortoise, then laughing and cursing as they throw it down the street.
Then as they scream in laughter and mock horror, a second video shows the tortoise crushed to death.
“His heart came out with a bunch of grass,” the girl with the camera says as she laughs, then kicks the corpse. “He’s dead. That’s funny.”
Uncovered by a Nevada animal abuse group before the girls deleted it from one of their Facebook pages, the two videos are being slammed by animal rights advocates as it goes viral and the girls are being investigated.
Facebook: Nevada animal abuse group's Facebook page
Clay Humane Executive Director Linda Welzant calls the treatment of the tortoise, officially an endangered species in Florida since 2007, a “cruel and intolerable” act.
“Those can escalate into violence to humans. It is all about teaching your children compassion for all creatures,” Welzant said, adding that she has seen this kind of behavior before.
“Unfortunately yes,” she said. “It is normally their own pets or a neighbor’s pets and it is very troubling that children in our society can do those things or anyone for that matter. ... They were actually enjoying themselves.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Karen Parker said her agency is working with the State Attorney’s Office to determine possible charges against the girls, who are 15 and 18 and go to Ridgeview High School, according to a friend and law enforcement officials. Those could fall under state statutes for animal cruelty as well as killing or wounding an endangered species.
“We received quite a few complaints about this and a call from the Sheriff’s Office, so we had an officer go out last night,” Parker said. “... Everybody is pretty much sickened by it and can’t believe someone would do that to an innocent animal.”
The first of the two videos shows the girls dousing the tortoise with alcohol and lighting it ablaze as the creature runs in circles through the flames. The tortoise tries to escape after one of the girls douses it with fluid again.
“Burn baby, burn baby,” one girl says as they light the tortoise on fire. “Now you are scared of us, huh?”
One girl lights a stick on fire and jabs the tortoise, then again.
“He’s — — hissing still,” one says as they pick the struggling animal up.
A girl in a pink top, whose face is seen multiple times, throws the tortoise as the other girl laughs.
“Let’s do it again,” the videographer said. “Let me do it. He’s not dead. He just went in his shell.”
The tortoise is thrown again down the street as the girls laugh.
In the second video one girl stomps on the tortoise until it is dead — its organs forced through a cracked carapace. The girl with the camera puts it down next to the eviscerated tortoise and proclaims, “Dead turtle, everyone.”
A 16-year-old Ridgeview High School classmate and Facebook friend of the two girls said he saw the videos and was disgusted, so he downloaded them and posted some comments on Facebook.
“I love animals and have had a turtle since kindergarten,” the teen told the Times-Union. “... People like that don’t deserve to be on this planet because they took joy and thought it was funny and laughed at it.”
As the videos went viral, they caught the attention of a Las Vegas animal control officer, who told Nevada Voters for Animal president Gina Greisen about them Tuesday night.
“It wasn’t enough that they burned it, then tried to burn its face and threw it and stomped it. All the time, they are angry that it isn’t dead yet,” Greisen said. “It breaks my heart. That video will be indelibly etched in my brain.”
Calling the girls “depraved little minds,” she said she wants them charged with felony animal cruelty, especially after learning they threatened to “make a better one for y’all tomorrow” after negative comments appeared on social media.
Two girls answered the door Wednesday at the home off Blanding Boulevard near Ridgeview High, one with resemblances a girl in the video, but closed it without commenting.
Greisen said one of the girls apparently apologized on social media.
But the actions like those on the video show a complete lack of feeling for a living creature, according to Noelle Pomeroy, a licensed mental health counselor at the University of North Florida’s Counseling Center.
“It is very clear that there is no empathy being displayed at all,” she said. “... There is no clear link between boredom and what they did there. That is merely an excuse for a behavior that almost everyone else who is bored would never think of doing. It seems like a complete disregard for another living thing.”
To alert Fish and Wildlife about other cases, call (888) 404-3922.
Danielle Susan Ruger and Faith Hope; Orange Park
Danielle Susan Ruger and Faith Hope; Orange Park
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