Friday, June 29, 2007

Taking a stand and standing up to cruelty against animals

I was witness today to a horrible act of violence against defenseless baby ducks. *tears*. I took the fur kids and Keifer on a walk today and happened to overhear some teen aged boys bragging to their buddies that they "killed a baby duck". This was done immediately after I heard a LOUD, tremendous amount of quacking, which I assume were the ducks in distress. I came up on them, they were down in the weeds/bushes next to a pond, below the sidewalk I was on - and they were boasting about this act of violence. I saw the mama duck in the pond, circling frantically, as the boys continued to laugh and comment about the baby duck drowning.

I was unsure what might happen if I said something to them; 4 larger teen aged males vs. me, with an infant and 2 dogs, so I hurried home and immediately called the police station. However, before I left the site, I made sure they saw I was watching them, and I actually paused at 3 different times, in 3 different positions, where they could see me watching them and overlooking the pond.

Within 20 minutes, a police officer called me from the site of the duck killing. She said that she had come across the bikes of the youth, but nobody was around. Two hours later, she called again, asking me for my statement. Apparently, she found the boys, and when she asked if they had killed the duck, they denied it. When she told them that she had a witness and was going to call me, she said, "they sang like a canary". She issued them all citations for cruelty to animals and they have to go to court with their parents. She also commented that she hopes they get a female judge, and they serve their time through lengthy community service. The police officer thanked me for calling, and I thanked HER for taking the time (over 2 hours) to undertake this type of action against the boys.

I still have a pain in the pit of my stomach tonight, thinking about the poor mama duck, and the defenseless baby duck, who was intentionally killed. Kids like this make me SICK to my stomach, and I hope and pray that I am able to teach Keifer and other children that animals are to be respected and taken care of - as all God's creatures are.

7 comments:

kristine said...

Good for you for doing something about what you saw. What those kids did was an act of crime. It is also great that the officer took the time out the day to pursue it. I hope they get in so much trouble!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, that's so sad... I'm so glad you took the time to do something about it and also that the police officer followed up on it as well. I hope those boys learn their lesson!

-twolinesonastick

Jennifer Prince said...

So, so disturbing. I'm so sad over this. I'm glad those kids were caught. So glad you called on them!

Jenni said...

You did the absolute right thing. I can't understand how any human can purposefully hurt an animal. :(

Marketing Mama said...

Oh no - what a horrible situation. I'm so glad you did something and that the boys were caught. I've heard cruelty to animals often extends to cruelty to humans (domestic abuse, homicide). Forcing those boys to face some consequences for their behavior may teach them a very valuable lesson now and prevent some horrible behaviors in adulthood. THANK YOU for doing that!

Kir said...

I think that is a wonderful thing you did, and it's wonderful for those kids (because later on in life they'll understand what they were doing was unacceptable)

thank you for standing up for that duck.

Emilie said...

Oh, Carrie. It made me feel physically ill to read your post, but GOOD FOR YOU for calling the police. I hope those kids learn an important lesson from all this.

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