The following isn’t a cat story, but it could have been. This is the story of a bunny who was seriously injured for the thrill of three teens from Yulee, Florida who posted a video on Snapchat. Whether it be a cat, a dog, a bunny or any other living and breathing animal, abuse is abuse and I believe we all need to be aware of how badly some of our young people are behaving.
Three young girls, all between 13 and 14 years old, were arrested Saturday at a home on Lina Road in Nassau County. The Nassau County Sheriff’s office verified the girls were charged with felony cruelty to animals after police followed up on an investigation after receiving complaints after a video was posted to Snapchat showing what appeared to be a bunny being thrown against a wall.
The teen girls were transferred by Nassau County Sheriff’s Office to the Nassau County Juvenile Detention Center in Jacksonville, where they’re expected to be released to the custody of their parents. Meanwhile, the bunny has a fractured leg and is currently in the care of Nassau County Animal Services. It will be available for adoption once the leg has healed.
Note: the video won’t work for technical reasons probably because it is designed for cell phones. Here are two screenshots.
This case of abuse disturbs me, mainly because we all know what punishment will be handed down. By the court system, probably nothing. By the parents, well let’s just hope the parents of these three young ladies take this situation seriously and hand out some serious consequences. Perhaps take their cell phones away since the girls are using them improperly. Take away their computers as well, so they can’t get online and brag about how they got away with harming an animal and claiming it was “no big deal.” My guess is they’ll even consider themselves “special” for going to teen jail.
If these were your children, what punishment would you hand down for such a despicable act? I’m just curious. This article by Michael tells how the FBI considers animal cruelty as a precursor to crimes against people. According to a February 1, 2016 post by FBI.gov, acts of cruelty against animals are now counted alongside felony crimes like arson, burglary, assault, and homicide in the FBI’s expansive criminal database.
Updates can be found on the Nassau County Animal Services Facebook community page.
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In some jurisdictions in the US animal control, child protective services and spousal abuse reports are all seen as having possible connections in the home.
It’s easy to be angry at these girls but the real issue is where are the parents.
One of the best examples ever of parental neglect is the Columbine shootings in Colorado where the parents didn’t feel they has the right to intrude on their child’s personal space. If they had perhaps those sawed off shotguns might have raised a few red flags.
We were reminded often as children that we didn’t own our rooms or our lives at that point.
To the stupid young girls and all their ilk. What you post online lives forever. Lets hope that when you apply for a job or college and someone decides to just do an online check this little morsel doesn’t pop up. You may kiss a much needed job goodbye or find yourself out of line for that much needed scholarship.