Brickbat: Killing Kittens

A North Ridgeville, Ohio, woman, who wasn't identified by local media, called animal control about several feral kittens living near her house. She said they were causing a flea problem and wanted to get rid of them. The woman says she knew they'd be put down, but she said she didn't realize the police officer who responded would shoot them right there, just 15 feet from her patio. Police Chief Mike Freeman said the officer acted appropriately and won't be disciplined.

Comments

[Matrix]

THEY'RE COMIN' RIGHT FOR US!!!

[Radioactive]

damn, dirty kittens!

[Fist of Etiquette]

In their defense, they were shooting at the fleas.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I wonder if Police Chief Mike Freeman thinks a random citizen would be acting appropriately if that citizen shot kittens, or anything, on his own property.

[some guy]

North Ridgeville is a suburb of Cleveland. Don't they have more important things to worry about?

[Y]

Whoa whoa, it is a suburb in the loosest term. And I don't think they have a problem shooting in your own yard or anyone who gives you permission.

[sarcasmic]

In a country with Rule of Law where the law applies equally to everyone, that would indeed be the case. Alas, no such place has ever existed.

[RickC]

Already know the answer and it doesn't even require the use of gun. A few years ago near where I live an older gentleman who owned a trailer park out in the county (no animal control unit) took matters into his own hands when an ownerless dog birthed some pups in ditch on his property. Some of the residents had complained so he took a hammer and bashed their little heads in. Quick and painless.

Some twit living in one of the trailers filmed it and sent the footage to the local news station. From the resulting uproar you would have thought the old dude had killed babies. The county charged the old guy with animal cruelty and were talking about jail time but then the story faded away and I never heard how it played out. I'm sure they fined the hell out of him. Makes me wonder why someone isn't charged everyday when their car creams one of our furry little friends on a road.

[Tonio]

Uh, because of intent?

[RickC]

See, you're being obtusely reasonable. Not the audience I was thinking about. What about those that hit the animal, notice in the rear view that the animal isn't dead but badly injured and keep on driving? Hit and run charges with animal cruelty thrown in?

About two years ago a car behind me, tailgaiting ass wipe (which is a crime in my book), hit an opossum that I dodged. It was at night but I could see the critter moving even from my mirrors. When I came back by about 15 minutes later the poor thing was still circling, which was all it could do because it's hips were crushed. I went home, got a pipe and returned to put it out of it's misery. A car eased by just as I was administering the coup de grace and for a second it crossed my mind, the old guy incident being recent, that some idiot in that car would sic the man on me for animal cruelty.

[some guy]

What was that officer thinking? Everyone knows the most enjoyable way to kill a kitten is by snapping it's tiny, supple neck.

[Live Free or Diet]

Burlap bag and river, you heathen!

[BigT]

Bag, rock, and river. Kittens float!

[Contrarian P]

That's because they're made of wood!

[Marc F Cheney]

I assume the kittens were resisting.

[Live Free or Diet]

They were acting in a threatening way and are now being tested for bath salts.

[Mainer2]

Remember when we were all gonna die when people high on the bath salts ate our faces ?

[Paul.]

All kittens resist.

[invisible furry hand]

In April 2013, humane officer Accorti rescued a baby great horned owl at South Central Park.

And that owl grew up to be a notorious fraudster, dope fiend and white slaver. Accorti learnt from that mistake.

[Acosmist]

Meh.

[Rich]

She said her children, ages 5 months to 7 years, were screaming and crying at the sound of the gunshots. The mother cat ran away and was not killed.

So, now she has a lead-pollution problem, a child-psychology problem, *and* a flea problem.

[SugarFree]

If you can use a handgun to blast apart some defenseless kittens, it sounds like you might be ready for the big leagues. Police departments everywhere should be flooding this sociopath with offers. I bet he wouldn't miss Negroes fleeing a DUI check-point invoking their 4th Amendment rights.

[Acosmist]

How would you prefer he killed the kittens?

[SugarFree]

By stuffing them up your ass and then sewing it shut.

[Tonio]

^This.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Lethal injection rather than blasting them to bits in front of Zod and everybody would be a step in the right direction.

[Mainer2]

Where's the fun in that ?

[RickC]

Suddenly everyone's sensitive. Dead cat is dead cat. Death by bullet or injection is both quick and painless. The only difference is that the "witnesses" were probably the same fuckwads who let their animals run wild, creating the kitten problem in the first place. Maybe the sight of splattered kitty will have a positive impact on their behavior.

[Paul.]

Can I shoot the squirrels in my backyard with my .45, or as a citizen, am I held to higher standards?

[RickC]

Knock yourself out. I brought up that point elsewhere.

[Tonio]

Meh. I'm one of the most vocal anti-cruelty advocates here and I don't see a problem with the shooting, per se.

Sure your vet is going to use lethal injection, and do it right, but many animal control departments use other less reliable and more painful methods for killing animals, such as heart stick. I don't know if they still use gas or vacuum, but these were also used in the past. Even those departments that do use LI don't always get it right, sometimes they underdose or miss veins which can lead to gruesome outcomes.

Also, shooting them in front of the person who called it in makes it absolutely clear to that person, and everyone else, what happens when you call the state. She could have chosen to take them to the local SPCA, or worked with a local rescue agency.

[Rhywun]

She could have chosen to take them to the local SPCA, or worked with a local rescue agency.

That's a good point - "animal control" is for like bears and stuff, not kittens.

[Tonio]

Generally, game wardens deal with bears. Animal control in urban and suburban jurisdictions isn't set up for bears. As noted above by RickC, many rural jurisdictions don't even have animal control depts.

[BigT]

In the police interrogation room, just like people.

[JD the elder]

Reason number approximately ten million of why You Never Call The Police If You Have Any Choice At All.

[Invisible Finger]

The method is stupid as the police could miss. But the end result is OK.

What is massively stupid is that they WON'T do this for nuisance squirrels, raccoons, or skunks. No, they go out of their way to keep those vermin alive.

[Tonio]

Uh, it's hard to miss when the muzzle is pressed up against the animal's head, holding it to the ground.

As to the other part - vermin is simply a term for animals which humans find to be inconvenient when they occupy the same habitat as humans. Where I live animal control deals with plenty of raccoons, so YMMV.

[Fladnag the Yarg]

Air rifle. Quiet and lethal. No more nuisance.

[A Mathematician]

If it was a bear instead people wouldn't be complaining.

[Tonio]

Point?

[Paul.]

Yes we would. Why would an officer be allowed the discretion to shoot a bear rooting through someone's garbage?

If the bear attacked him, sure, but when was the last time an officer was attacked by an animal?

Let's see, zero, carry the zero... yeah, never.

Yet they shoot them at a rate of what, 250,000 dogs per year?

[GILMORE]

LOLcat sez =

Kitteh can has hollow pointz?

Up in yer yard
Gettin capped fer flees

[Bernieyeball]

I can remember, about 100 years ago or so, Mom and Dad and us three Angels were sitting in a Howard Johnsons near our home in Webster NY.
There was a cop drinking coffee at the counter and my 5 year old brother blurted out "Do police have mothers?"...We now know that they do not...