Teens Shooting Cats

Teens shooting cats is a subject I had really hoped I wouldn’t have to report on this summer. Sadly, I was mistaken.

Here’s the situation and I have a discussion question at the end.

On Sunday, June 5, the police in Battle Ground, Washington were called out on a case involving three teens shooting cats at the 700 block of Northeast 3rd Avenue.  Thanks to an eyewitness who’s cat suffered a .22 caliber gunshot wound to the face, the police was able to apprehend the three juveniles involved. Two of them were 16 and one was 17 years old. I don’t give out names of those under 18 on my articles, but they can be found here. http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/18032/WA/US/. So feel free to check out that report.

What’s really so dangerous is that when the police stopped the teens on Sunday night they not only discovered .22 caliber spent rifle shells, they found a loaded rifle in the vehicle.

The teens were originally scheduled to appear before the Clark County Superior Court judge this week. Plans were changed and now they will be formally charged at 1:30 pm on June 28. That gives us all some time to act.

The apprehension of the three pretty much closes five cases of cats being shot in the head over a two month period. One of the teens admitted to shooting at LEAST 50 cats. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield said chances are the total will reach over 100 cats being shot by the time the case goes to court.

They are expected to be charged with drive by shooting and animal cruelty.

For the readers information the case number is 18032. The court is located at 1200 Franklin Street, Vancouver, Washington, 98660. The phone number is (360) 397-2150. I’d also like to add this link which gives information on the judges there. http://www.co.clark.wa.us/courts/superior/judges.html.

Let’s all get in touch with these judges and send them a message that we’re tired of teens getting away with animal abuse. The three are already out of jail on bond. We’re not looking at someone who has even an ounce of remorse for hurting these poor cats.

The number of cats involved is very disturbing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I would seriously worry about one of those charged may turn out to be a serial killer. For anyone to admit to police that they are responsible for at least 50 shooting is doing a numbers game. They want to shoot all they can so they can brag about how many they’ve shot.

Here’s the link to what I consider the most important article I’ve written to date. It’s called Kids Killing Cats and has all of the statistics on the percentage of serial killers who began by killing animals.

I’m sure these three animal abusers will walk away from this with nothing more than a small fine and perhaps some community service. Don’t forget their names. Write them down somewhere safe. Better yet, save the link for my article here on Pictures-of-cats.org. Give it a year or so then Google their names. Chances are their violence will have spilled over to the citizens of their town. You’ll be reading of a criminal domestic violence or robbery charge.

Because that is what is happening when teens get off the hook for committing violent crimes simply because they’re considered too young to punish.

My questions for the readers today is what age should strict punishment be dealt out? Fourteen, fifteen? I want a number as I’m curious what the rest of you think. I’d also like to hear back from readers what you think should be the punishment in this case.

Elisa

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Teens Shooting Cats

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Jun 30, 2011
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Great article about teens and cats
by: Maria Loved what you wrote about our recent problem and I do agree with it. Judges will let them go with a slap on the wrist. I did some research on the teens and one of them is from a dysfunctional home. They live in an apartment and there are four people living there who don’t share the same last name, according to what I found anyway . I found one on Facebook, sweet and babyfaced , he’ll get off I’m sure.

I love cats. I have three , all strays . Someone better not shoot one of my cats . I feel so sad for all who lost a cat or had one injured, and I feel worse for the kids who grew up with people who didn’t teach them the love of animals. I see serial killers a few years down the road.

We do need to change the laws and make them tougher, so these creeps don’t get a slap on the wrist .


Jun 21, 2011
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Responsibily
by: Kitty Novich I would have to say that ANY child over the age of 9 or 10 knows the difference between right and wrong. If they do not, then said child may have some serious issues that need to be addressed right away. I am not saying to send a 9 year old to prison. But serious punishment NEEDS to happen! Even if the child doesn’t grow up to be a serial killer, hurting animals is enough. I believe that if they are stopped at a young enough age, they have a much better chance of becoming a respectable citizen. Like Michael said, pets are considered property and too many court systems do not place any value on them. All I can say is, God help someone if they even try to hurt my cats!!

Jun 13, 2011
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Big Problem – Big Question
by: Michael This is a very difficult problem. The cause would appear to be poor parenting. These children don’t understand the consequences of their actions. A sort of sociopath.

When a person this young commits crimes like this that may lead to worse crimes there is an argument that the parents should also be involved in some way with the punishment.

For me the children need a punishment that they will take notice of (sufficiently severe) and they need education and treatment but it is probably too late to change their attitudes.

One aspect of this sort of cat cruelty is that the justice system does not rank this sort of crime as serious. This is because the domestic cat is not respected. In fact in general it appears that people do not respect animals sufficiently.

Also the authorities set a bad example. What about this sheriff shooting cats! What about the legalised abuse of cats by veterinarians? I am talking about declawing.

Surely this sets a very bad example. The pillars of society saying that we can abuse cats for our convenience. This doesn’t set a very good example does it?

We – the adults – need to look at ourselves at a fundamental level and ask what are we doing.

Michael Avatar

 


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