January 27, 2005
Pierce County Ducks, Humans: Beware

I let this one slip by, and I'm sorry. PETA is asking Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne to go after two addled miscreants from the Graham area, who plucked, then killed a neighbor's duck for dinner. In a press release sub-headlined, "Community Should Fear For Public Safety," a PETA spokesperson says:

According to leading mental health professionals and law enforcement agencies, perpetrators of violent acts against animals are often repeat offenders who pose a serious threat not only to other animals, but the community as a whole."

I think these guys were just cheap. PETA should stick to fish empathy.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 27, 2005 01:21 PM | Email This
Comments
1. I think these guys were just cheap.
Originally I was going to make a joke and say maybe they were hungry.. then I read the release...

The request stems from an incident earlier this month in which the men allegedly attacked a neighbor’s duck by pulling out the animal’s feathers, beating her with a hammer, and encouraging a dog to attack her before they killed her and ate her remains.

I almost just lost my Chicken Teriyaki lunch!

Posted by: bmvaughn on January 27, 2005 01:22 PM
2. Disgusting!

Posted by: paul on January 27, 2005 01:31 PM
3. I think the concern came from the fact the culprits knew the duck was a pet, not intended for the dinner table and that they took great pleasure in laughing about it in the duck owner's face and making a point of having duck for dinner "that night". That's a little more than just being cheap.

I suspect the point PETA was trying to make is that these creeps did it maliciously, not just because they were hungry and that often that kind of maliciousness is a precursor to treating people violently.

Posted by: Rita on January 27, 2005 01:45 PM
4. You really aren't suggesting that these guys shouldn't be prosecuted, are you?

Posted by: Steve on January 27, 2005 01:48 PM
5. Ew...I hadn't read your post before posting my own message, Vaughn. That is awful. Those men are not normal and I'd be scared to live next to them myself. No living thing deserves to be treated that way. Makes me ill.

Posted by: Rita on January 27, 2005 01:50 PM
6. Throw the book at those creeps. And I wish the PETA people would show the same concern about partial birth abortion

Posted by: Michele S on January 27, 2005 01:54 PM
7. Creeps, yep. Thieves, certainly. Mentally ill? Not unless being a jerk is a mental illness. The duck? If people aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made of meat? Sorry, couldn't resist...

Posted by: Scott on January 27, 2005 02:11 PM
8. "perpetrators of violent acts against animals are often repeat offenders who pose a serious threat not only to other animals, but the community as a whole."

Beware the armed-and-dangerous cannibals!

Posted by: Mike on January 27, 2005 02:20 PM
9. It's not the killing and eating that matters. I wouldn't care if these guys had lawfully killed and eaten a wild duck during duck season (WABBIT SEASON! DUCK SEASON! WABBIT SEAS--)

Sorry. Looney Tunes flashback.

They should be punished (severely) for treating the duck with deliberate cruelty, and for destroying their neighbor's property.

Just because PETA wants something to happen does not in itself mean it shouldn't happen.

Posted by: ScottM on January 27, 2005 02:27 PM
10. Talk about hypocritical....PETA is the bunch that let the minks loose from the mink farm in Oregon and alot of them starved to death and/or were killed by other animals. They couldn't survive in the wild.

Plus the mink farmer lost lots of $$ from their so-called humane-ness. Those people have no sense!

Posted by: Susu on January 27, 2005 02:29 PM
11. Sorry Susu, that act was claimed by the ALF (Animal Liberation Front), and occured here in good ol' WA.

Posted by: bmvaughn on January 27, 2005 02:52 PM
12. Regardless of PETA's involvement, I think the perps should be charged. If this duck was in fact someone's pet, the whole incident had to be very emotionally difficult on the pet owner.

Seriously, replace the word "duck" with "cat" or "dog" and you'll find it a whole lot more revolting. I don't care if someone has a pet cow, just because other animals of the same species are commonly slaughtered and eaten, doesn't mean that it's any less horrific to have your pet treated that way.

I'm a meat eater, and I usually disagree with PETA on nearly every position they take, but in this case the fact that this animal was someone's pet is what makes me side with them. In my thinking, pet animals have a higher standing than others, because of the emotional investment made by their owners. I lost a very dear pet cat over a year ago, and I was so emotionally distraught that I missed a day of work, and still tear up just thinking about him. And his death was due to natural causes, I can't even imagine what I'd have done if someone had killed him.

Posted by: Jason on January 27, 2005 02:53 PM
13. You're right...Thanks for the correction...I still maintain, however, that PETA is full of loonies!

Posted by: Susu on January 27, 2005 02:54 PM
14. Just because PETA wants something to happen does not in itself mean it shouldn't happen...

That may be true...but doesn't it change the burden of proof? (trying to remove smirk from face)

Posted by: South County on January 27, 2005 02:54 PM
15. These perpetrators deserve to be prosecuted and need to have their mental status evaluated for possible psychiatric help. This is just sick and wrong. If I caught anyone committing such an act against one of my pets, they would be shot.

Posted by: Cameron on January 27, 2005 04:43 PM
16. As I said, these guys were "addled miscreants." But do they represent a threat to the human population, as PETA claimed?

And: what IS the right way to kill a duck, assuming it's your own, not your neighbor's? Just wondering.

Posted by: Matt R. on January 27, 2005 06:58 PM
17. Well, if you're PETA, the duck has more rights than you do. I agree that there should be a presecution here (probably a Pasado law charge.) PETA's implication seems to be that a murder rap is more appropriate.

Posted by: Vexorg on January 27, 2005 07:11 PM
18. Matt R.

How do you kill a duck?

Possibly the same way we used to kill a chicken before we plucked it...you take it by the neck and swing it round and round til the neck is broken. That's the good old farm way. Of course, PETA would never approve. I'm sure that's cruelty in their textbook world.

Posted by: Susu on January 27, 2005 10:05 PM
19. Interesting the way you twisted that press release to make it seem like PETA (which I often disagree with) was being silly when it fact it wasn't just a case of someone killing a duck to eat it, but clearly torturing a neighbor's pet for "fun".

I think your entry says a lot more about your relationship to the truth than it does at PETA.

Posted by: D. Andersen on January 29, 2005 02:17 PM
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