Highschool football players kill animals, pose for pictures

[Catherine]

I find this story shocking. A group of high school football players went out with baseball bats and killed a number of small animals and then posed for pictures with them.  No reason is given for their behavior.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...840&at=dt0

They will probably only be fined for what they did. Their coach said they were good kids who made a bad decision. He said they were probably not aware of the laws against hurting small animals.

Are they missing the point. These good kids took bats and beat small animals to death. They killed a number of animals so it took some time. They would have had to hunt them down to do this. This doesn't sound like good kids making a mistake.
I would want to know whose idea it was. Did someone initiate the killing and the rest just went along. That is dangerous behavior. I have to wonder if one of the "good" kids has killed animals before.

Certainly a small fine is not a strong enough response to so serious a crime. Is one of the young men at risk for committing other more serious crimes.

[LPC]

(06-24-2016, 02:17 PM)Catherine Wrote: A group of high school football players went out with baseball bats and killed a number of small animals and then posed for pictures with them.  No reason is given for their behavior......

This doesn't sound like good kids making a mistake.
I would want to know whose idea it was. Did someone initiate the killing and the rest just went along. That is dangerous behavior. I have to wonder if one of the "good" kids has killed animals before.

Indeed. Probably no reason was given for their behaviour, because they didn't have a reason. It was senseless violence and killing.

I am not a fan of social media, but in this case the fact that they posted their killing spree online led to their being apprehended. Otherwise, they might have gone on to do this regularly as a "hobby".

Their trainer calls them "good kids". It all depends on what you call "good". Maybe they are good at their studies, at playing American football; maybe they are good with their friends and teachers. But they are certainly not "good" with animals! Let us hope they will learn from this lesson.

[Catherine]

I sense that the seriousness of the situation is being missed.  People who abuse animals go on to abuse humans. Their crimes get worse.  I suspect that they were not all equally involved in the killing. It must have been the idea of one of the boys.

You are right about social media. It can be a nuisance, but it has made it possible to catch people in the act.  For some reason people feel the need of posting the horrible things they do. It give us a chance to catch them. 

I still can't believe that any good kid would be involved in such behavior.