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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJustice For Toby - "Toby's Law" (tortured 5-month-old Pomeranian puppy E-action)
http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-toby-toby-s-law
Three years ago in Texas, three young boys kidnapped a neighbor's 5-month-old Pomeranian puppy, named Toby, and took him to an abandoned house. There, they climbed to the top of the building and repeatedly threw this poor pup off the edge, breaking all of his legs. They then strung him upside down BY HIS BROKEN LEGS and proceeded to hit him repeatedly with a wooden board embedded with nails, basically treating this tortured puppy like a piñata. These young monsters then lit his genitals on fire. One of them grabbed a pocketknife and started to cut Toby's throat. It was at this point that this poor, victimized pup died of his wounds.
The boys who committed this terrible murder were 12, 14, and 16 years of age at the time it occurred, and although they were initially arrested and had their day in court, they were sentenced with mercy due to their ages. The prosecutor, whose very job consists of fighting for the victim regardless of what age the perpetrator might be, was the first to tell the media, "They are just children."
Congressman Rahall, I have high respect for you and your views towards animal rights. Being a lover of animals, I am certain that you see the injustice in this case. The law states that animals are mere property; not family, not LIVES, as you, I, and millions of others in our country place them as. To us, they matter as much as our children. As much as our own lives. They search, rescue, protect, comfort, and love. They know joy and suffer heartbreak. They identify with each other, and with us, and show qualities at times that are almost human in its refinement. The law, in this aspect, is very wrong. It is unjust. Inadequate. Unacceptable.
But many of us have hope; hope that an individual who loves animals as we do, and who has the political standing to be able to directly invoke positive change, will finally come to bat for all the innocent animals that have fallen victim to killer kids. The more research and networking that I have started to do of late, the more I see how common an occurrence this actually is. Every day I hear at least two stories of a child/younger person/minor who has abused, mistreated, or killed an innocent animal. Three teens kidnap and decapitate a dog. A group of preteens are caught burning alive two puppies as the pups scream in agony and huddle against each other in fear and excruciating pain. A teenage girl decides (for kicks) to tie several newborn puppies down with bricks and toss them into a river to drown as they scream repeatedly for mercy, and as her brother callously videotapes the entire murders. A couple of youngsters set off firecrackers in a dog's mouth, leaving the dog in complete agony and forced to be euthanized by the kind people who rescued him. A fifteen-year-old girl with a history of weapons and animal abuse charges puts a kitten in an oven and slowly cooks her alive while the poor kitten scratches frantically to get out, screaming in pain. I could continue for hours, filling pages and pages with information on miniature monsters who prey on the innocent.
FULL story and E-action at link.
Freddie
(9,265 posts)Ted Bundy tortured animals as a child. Children and teens who do these despicable things need punishment and serious psychiatric treatment.
magellan
(13,257 posts)...so I could sign it. Now I'm in tears and will be thinking of that poor pup as I try to fall asleep.
It's incomprehensible that a prosecutor would overlook the very serious nature of such a crime. Children become adults, and if they can do this to a dog, what will they be capable of doing to people later?
beevul
(12,194 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Humanswho enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals - have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and animals is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them - without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.
But in each case cited, they knew they caused pain and reveled in it.
An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity, and consumerism.
We keep at it, and through constant repetition many of them finally get it. What kind of society could we create if, instead, we drummed into them science and a sense of hope?
...In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.
~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I cannot understand how anyone could do that to an innocent animal. Just unfuckingbelievable.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)Sorry, I couldn't read anymore...tooooo upset!!!!!