Wildlife protection is radically different from recklessly killing harmless wild animals. Who’s going to tell this difference to the very people who are supposed to protect wildlife but in fact are the ones to destroy it?
Animal rights advocates on social media are as upset as residents of Clarington, OH, over the killing of a tame and friendly deer in Clarington. A WTRF story had reported the concerns of residents over a wildlife officer’s stalking a friendly deer in the area recently. Today, the story has been updated with the news that the deer has been shot dead by the same officer.
As expected, the respective authority, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, has quickly issued a statement in justification of the deer’s killing which, quoted on WTRF site, says, “Wild animals, even those that appear tame, are unpredictable by nature and are capable of becoming aggressive and dangerous at any time and particularly when it involves a buck during mating season.” Lame justification and open defense of cruelty as we can all see.
It is a sad story and an outrageous crime to shoot down a harmless animal which never harmed anyone but was so friendly that children and grownups welcomed it to their backyard and fed it from their hands, also taking pictures with it. See Penny Eims’ Examiner story about the deer.
The moral to this story: accountability of law enforcement needs a cent percent rise, and that won’t come until people stand up for protecting life from abuse and cruelty.
