Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModePunishment to teenage possum killers inconsistent
December 12, 2005 —
Three Des Moines, Iowa teenagers were recently sentenced to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine and 80 hours of community service after lighting opossums on fire and video taping it for the purpose of putting it on a Web site. During the sentencing, Judge Fredrick Breen called the act "perverted" and said it was one of the most disturbing cases he has ever seen, and prosecutors and animal rights activists are saying the punishment is far too light.
As of yet, there have been few outlets labeling the punishment as too harsh, instead treating the teenagers like felons (which would have happened had they not had clean records) and calling for their heads. "I don't think 30 days in jail was enough for what they did to these two animals," said Webster County assistant attorney Ricki Osborn, "torturing them and watching their bodies scald around like they did in the video."
While I certainly won't deny the cruelty of their actions, I do disagree with the punishment, so let me play devil's advocate for a moment.
To begin, the boys had no prior records and were seen as good kids, so let's assume for a moment that this was just a terrible, ill advised prank. The fact that they video taped it probably says more to their innocence than their malice. I've been around a number of people who have uttered some ridiculous sentences beginning with, "Wouldn't it be funny if..." that have also led to some not so funny moments, so I can certainly see how something like this could get out of hand. Again, I'm not advocating cruelty to animals, just making some points.
Furthermore, these were possums - not people (or even dogs or cats). And while I know that shouldn't matter, we all know it does. Possums are seen as varmint and are trapped, shot and hit by cars every day without so much as a blink of an eye from prosecutors.
I also understand that this case wasn't about killing the animals but about the act itself. I cannot imagine a worse way to go than being burned alive and that was the thinking when the judge delivered the sentence. But to make each boy spend a month in jail - over Christmas at that - seems to me punishment that doesn't fit the crime. Real criminals often get off with lesser punishments, thus forcing the debate, "is a cruel act on an animal worse than just a bad act on a human being?"
Honestly, I don't have the answer to that question, but I do think that the jail time wasn't necessary. To put them in jail would mean to go after every kid that's ever burnt an ant with a magnifying glass or stuffed a firecracker in a frog. Every day, people leave poison pellets for rats to munch on and stick elaborate traps in their gardens to kill whatever stray animal decides to snack on their tulips. So why them, why now?
Years ago I was outside with my brother playing baseball. Bat in hand, I was walking towards a field to track down a ball when I stumbled upon a nest filled with tiny, hairless mice. That day, I did what many other country-born kids would do and killed those nasty mice with my bat. Today, I'm not proud of what I did, but I can never take it away. But before you judge me, or those Iowa boys, let me tell you that when I looked closer, I realized they weren't mice but bunnies. And now tell me how it's right that both you and I feel that much worse for it.