| Sunday, February 16, 2003 |
A case that would make Belligerent Bunny...more so! What began as a WCBS exclusive ("Animal cruelty on Long Island," and Animal Abuse under Investigation), in which a family videotaped their "preparation" of rabbits for the dinnertable, has now resulted in charges against a father and son, Matteo, 49, and Rosario Loverso, 23, of Bay Shore, New York. Each has been charged with one count of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year in jail. The videotape was shocking. Even as WCBS reporter Jennifer McLogan reminded viewers that the raising and slaughtering rabbits for food in New York is not illegal, it was clear that what was happening on a home-videotape labeled "Our Vacation" went above and beyond the killing of animals for food. While the district attorney will not prosecute the men for the act killing the rabbits (for food), he will be holding them accountable for the inhumane and cruel methods used (and may possibly even be able to evoke the laws against animal fighting and baiting for additional charges). While small children wandered in and out of the backdrop of this tape, adult males turn their family dog loose on the rabbits. The men are also seen swinging the rabbits around wildly, hitting (dealing out "karate chops") and shaking them while further encouraging and laughing at the dog's attack on the rabbit. We are told by McLogan--since WCBS could not show something so graphic--that at least one of the rabbits was skinned alive on tape. WCBS captures the reaction of Gerald Lauber, Chief of Detectives with the Suffolk County SPCA who viewed the tape in horror with McLogan--even elaborating on the cruelty witnessed. Both Lauber and McLogan mention the sounds of distress and agony coming from the terrorized rabbits. The live-skinning of one rabbit is confirmed by Roy Gross, chief of the SPCA, in the Newsday.com account: One rabbit, which presumably had been knocked unconscious, was held upside down and skinned. While it was skinned, the rabbit regained consciousness, Gross said. "Instead of killing it, they continued skinning it while the rabbit is screaming in pain," Gross said.The encouragement and seeming amusement leads some activists to speculate that the family could also be violating animal fighting statutes. For information about law violations, see New York State Statutes: Article 26 especially Section 351: "Prohibition of Animal Fighting" and 353 of: "Aggravated cruelty to animals." The possible legal loophole related to the cruelty law is the definition of companion animal vs farm animal. Companion animals have more protections under most laws than farm/food animals. Also, rabbits are often designated as laboratory animals and may be exempt from protection laws under the Animal Welfare Act provisions for companion animals (depsite the fact that rabits and bunnies ARE kept as "pets"). However, since these rabbits were raised for food they may be designated "farm animals," I would presume it would make the accused in this case subject to federal regulations regarding the handling and humane slaughter of food animals. Courtesy of the Suffolk County, NY Website, here is the contact information for District Attorney, Thomas Spota, if you wish to send a POLITE letter, email or make a call thanking the DA for taking action and encouraging him to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, asking for maximum penalties: Thomas J. Spota, DA Suffolk County District Attorney Building #77 N County Complex Hauppauge, NY 11787 Phone: 631-853-4161 Fax: 631-853-5117 Email: info@co.suffolk.ny.us UPDATE: [02.17.03] I'm not a huge believer in the effectiveness of these, but you never know--there's an online petition asking the DA to file felony (vs misdemeanor) charges against the alleged perpetrators. [ ] |
| Available
for purchase from Amazon.com Book and magazine list coming soon!
| |
