Animal Manslaughter?

[species5478]

I'm a pet owner, who currently owns three dogs. In fact, I've owned dogs all my life and had to compete with my mom's cats over what household animal we would have. (Dogs won) But

I've been recently disturbed by a few things...

 

While it seems ok that we lock up an NFL player in prison for two years, (Michael Vick) for dog-fighting, other people seem to avoid conviction almost at will.

 

A little girl was mauled to death by her neighbor's pitbull here in Pheonix, and no charges are brought against the owner. A woman was attacked by a chimp, and no charges were brought against the owner. And recently, a killer whale at Seaworld just killed its third person, a trainer. And one of it's offspring killed another trainer in a foreign country. No charges appear to be pending AND the animal is not going to be euthanized.

 

Dogfighting isn't the same as a pet randomly attacking a person, but animals killing animals is one thing. Animals killing or maiming people...isn't that worse? Is this right?

 

[Kendo 2]

Any animal that kills a human earns a bullet. The type of critter or varmint doing the deed is irrelevant. It dies. Anthropomorphism is not only misguided but shows ignorance of what animals are. Animals dominate one another. If an animal's instincts signal that it can dominate a human IT WILL.

 

Case in Point: My family made the BAD decision to buy a rescued Mustang. This $25.00 plug stew-head is untrainable. We've tried war bits, nose plugs, hobbling, blinders, doping and every trick know to man to break it. It's not going to happen and the thing refuses to act right. Why? Because it is a hard-mouthed WILD HORSE and early on it realized it's bigger than humans. We can't put it down or even use the thing as a rodeo bronc, damn government contract forbids it. I mounted up ONE time and that was enough. It tried to kill me. We don't let the hands near it, not that they would get within twenty feet of the pen anyway. When we float all of the horses' teeth we have to call the horse doc out and he doses the mustang with ketamine. That's how dangerous this horse is. Everytime I open my wallet to pay the doc I wish we had let the plug go for glue and dog food.

 

So how would I feel if this animal actually hurt someone or God-forbid killed a person? What would the family of the person who suffered think once they found out that I knew the horse had killer potential? All of that aside, here in Texas if the horse killed someone a Justice of the Peace would sign an order and Animal Control would be out the same day to put the horse down. I would be facing a civil suit (for sure) and maybe jail time if it was found out that I knew the animal was a potential killer and knowingly let people have access to it.

 

So why is that man-eating chimp's owner still free? She needs a life sentence for feeding the thing steak and lobster and birthday cake and treating it like it was a human. Her prison time would be easier than the life sentence the woman in the video must deal with. If those park officials in Florida were forced train the killer orca the tune they're singing now would change. And yeah, charge them with man slaughter since they value ticket prices more than the lives of their employees.

[Skotte]

my family has a long history of having animals & a lot were pets.

 

we've known good pit bulls (though I can understand that some people wouldn't be able to handle that breed) though out of all the breeds my family has had one stands out as one that we found we couldn't trust - the Chow Chow every one of those we had we had to put down for aggression.

 

@Kendo, isn't there a "mustang sanctuary/reserve " for it to be? since it is a wild animal

[CommanderCrazy]

Any animal that kills a human earns a bullet

 

Thats BS.

Call us human, we are still animals. Think, Visualise a gorilla. That was once you. If a lion kills a gorilla (Fat chance), would you kill it? No? well, we were once gorillas, so if something kills any form of monkey......... Why dont you kill that too!?!

 

I hate people who think like the whole "If it kills a human, kill it" because

• Aren't you technically doing the same crime?
  
• Its a Dog Eat Dog world. If you think you are in danger to the point of needing to kill to survive, then you should do so.
  

[Alastair91]

I love animals and I'm currently sheltering a stray queen with her four kittens, been like over a month now. But for whatever reasons, the animals must not be put down no matter what wrong they've done, they're simply animals with instincts, they do not have moral instincts like some humans do. For the whale, it's better to just let it out into the ocean then to kill it. But for the pet owners, when the pet is legally yours, it's your responsibility. The owners have the right to be punished but not the animals.

[myrmaad]

I love animals and I'm currently sheltering a stray queen with her four kittens, been like over a month now. But for whatever reasons, the animals must not be put down no matter what wrong they've done, they're simply animals with instincts, they do not have moral instincts like some humans do. For the whale, it's better to just let it out into the ocean then to kill it. But for the pet owners, when the pet is legally yours, it's your responsibility. The owners have the right to be punished but not the animals.

 

 

Letting the whale out into the ocean at this stage is probably a death sentence, but maybe not, it's probably a better option than putting it down. I thought the trainer looked a bit negligent, the facility was most certainly negligent. When will man stop imprisoning wild animals? This was wrong with Keiko "Free Willy", and it's still wrong. But as long as we bow to the all-mighty dollar nothing is going to change.

 

The chimp story is a few years old now, and I followed it closely at the time. Similarly to the whale, it's negligent to try to make a "pet" out of a wild creature, and I think the "owner" is accountable.

 

Dogs are different. Dogs have a historical allegiance with us. We both have a responsibility to each other, and most 'man and dog' relationships honor this ancient bond we share. The dogs deserve a case by case analysis on their own merits. Justice should never be painted with a broad brush. Unfortunately justice requires a lot more thoughtful consideration and a much more astute facility for objective compassion than the average citizen can seem to muster.

 

Usually, if your neighbors hate your dogs, it's because you're not a good pet custodian.

[CommanderCrazy]

You share my views Heyy_Adrian.

[Kendo 2]

Any animal that kills a human earns a bullet

I hate people who think like the whole "If it kills a human, kill it"

 

You hate me? You don't even know me. If you did, you would know that my friends and I are the driving force for animal rescue in my county. We pay for it all out of pocket.

 

What you posted is a personal attack on me, since you quoted me. Nice. And for what? Because you didn't agree with what I posted in a debate topic on a game discussion board. :blink:

[CommanderCrazy]

Hey, hey, slow down there mate. It is a debate, you should expect to be quoted & have your opinion shot at. Also, If you truly are the force that saves animals, why are you proposing to kill them if they cause harm to a human?

Also, I dont hate you, I just hate those kinds of people...... If you catch my meaning.

[Kendo 2]

Well I guess you'll really be steamed at me when I say this....

 

I hunt. I hunt coons and feral hogs for sport year 'round from horse back with packs of dogs. Every Fall my friends and I hit woods and corn fields for quail, dove and white-tailed deer. It's fun.

 

I'm a member of the Columbus Cat Coalition. We rescue the cats and dogs that our fine upstanding neighbors abandon in the local parks and on road sides. They dump their HOUSE PETS in areas where coyotes and bobcats can prey on them. Every animal saved is tested and if they are diseased they are put down. If they are clean they are inoculated, spaid/nuetured, ear-notched and adopted out. Local people know to call us because we only destroy the critcally sick or injured animals. If the animals are old or ugly we usually keep them ourselves. The best cowdog on my place is a rescue animal. My hay barn is 100% rat-free because of the 27 (at last count) cats that could not be adopted out.

 

I love critters, but I'm realistic about it. You have no idea how hard it is to take someone's loving family pet and have it put down due to disease or injury because it was dumped like a sack of garbage. They wag their tails or purr to the very end. Sometimes I cry and sometimes I don't, but I'm always mad when I leave the doc's with an empty pet taxi.

 

Now you know. Hate people like me all you like, but we're the one's doing the good deeds.

 

EDIT: and animals that kill people need to be put down. Wild animals should not be made into 'pets'. Animals born in the wild do not belong in zoos (unless it would save the species from extinction) and dogs breeds with aggressive personalities need to be trained by people who know what they are doing.