Wisconsin DNR: Thrill killing of animals is on the rise.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080221/GPG0101/80221074

There has been a growing trend of thrill killing of animals throughout Wisconsin during the last few years, chief state conservation warden Randy Stark says.

Officials say several dozen cases have been confirmed in which wild animals were shot with firearms and arrows, run down with vehicles or clubbed with baseball bats and homemade weapons such as sharpened sticks.

“This is simply a criminal act. It has nothing to do with hunting,” said Department of Natural Resources warden Rick Rosen, who is stationed in St. Croix County. “It has nothing to do with sportsmanship at all. As far as why, it’s just like retail theft. That’s the best analogy. It’s the thrill with getting away with something and not getting caught.”

(snip)

A warden in Chippewa County handled a case in which high school students spent their evenings traveling around, shining lights at deer and shooting the vulnerable animals paralyzed by the bright lights, Peery said. They were accused of cutting out the heart of one of the deer and put it in the locker of the ex-girlfriend of one of the boys.

OK, I've always supported hunting, as it's a valuable wildlife management tool, valuable to our local economy, and for some of our poorer residents a way to get some cheap protein in their diet over the winter. (Whether it be through the low cost of a 3-5 bullets or through the Hunt for the Hungry program) However, this is just fucked up. What the hell is wrong with kids these days?

[Muttocracy]

1. this isn't about hunting; this is creepy abusive stuff - they'll move on to humans nt

[electropop]

3. It's the way Dahmer started

:scared:

[Cerridwen]

2. From another article posted right now in GD

Campbell said she hopes investigators explore whether the incident was an attempt to strike out at the dog's owners.

"That's where a lot of animal cruelty starts," she said.

Research has shown that perpetrators "are frustrated and angry and upset, and animals are vulnerable," Campbell said. (emphasis added)

Also notice another parallel from previous article to this article

They were accused of cutting out the heart of one of the deer and put it in the locker of the ex-girlfriend of one of the boys. (emphasis added)

I'll go get links to the other thread and the other article...

DU, GD thread link

link to article mentioned in above thread

edited for links

[roguevalley]

4. Hang them. By their privates.

nothing nauseates me more. some dickhead lt. of the rogers, arkansas police department tazered a cow, filmed it and showed it around. what a hero people like this are.

[Vektor]

5. I say a tazer in the colon is a suitable punishment for such scum.

I really can't think of a punishment cruel enough, actually.

[The Stranger]

6. I am against all of it. Unless you arm the animals, hunting isn't a sport.

Give me a fucking break.

[northernsoul]

7. So, it's fair to say that you support the right to arm bears?

[The Stranger]

8. ESPECIALLY the right to arm bears.

[Withywindle]

9. Yup. NOT a sport.

To me, a SPORT is a competitive game between reasonably equally matched competitors (all starting from the same point, theoretically all have a fair chance to win) who all understand the rules and consented to be there.

I mean, if you like venison, go for it, deer are overpopulated. But don't kid yourself it's a "sport" or that you're there to "enjoy the great outdoors" or what have you (if that was really the reason, you'd take a camera, not a gun.)

[The Stranger]

10. I know some who "hunt" with cameras, and the rewards to them are far, far greater.

They will show you picture after picture on their laptop or gizmo gadget (sometimes ad nauseum), and the picture represents not just the beauty of nature in the subject, but their own skill in capturing it for posterity in a certain way that shows their own skills and that is all their own.

Putting stuffed animal carcasses on the wall is disgustingly gauche.

[Withywindle]

12. That's SO much the greater skill anyway.

Wildlife photography is so incredibly difficult to do well, but wow, it's amazing if you can swing it. It's got all the stalking-and-tracking-and-waiting primal-challenge stuff of hunting, but it's creative and not destructive. I have so much more respect for that.

Besides, with a camera you're a lot less likely to kill your own buddies if you have a few beers in the blind.

[mainegreen]

11. This isn't hunting.

And if you think the advantage is all to humans in real hunting, you don't know much about hunting.