Heard a similar story regarding a troop from NJ mistreating pack animals while backpacking at Philmont Scout Ranch (NM) years ago. Don’t know the truth behind the story but it certainly seemed plausible to me.
Just as a side-note, the manual of the 80s/90s that I used as a Scoutmaster with my son and his peers had lost any of that “urban” flavor beyond having appropriately mixed participation in photos.
It was so bad that, at the time, some troops were buying older manuals, and there was talk of publishing a new manual that was very wilderness oriented and serious.
Oddly enough, I bet if someone published hard core wilderness/survivalist/roughing it book series oriented at boys, it would probably sell very well. It would need versions for woodland, deserts, prairie, swampland, cold weather, medical, weapons and trapping, and naval.
Such books would make liberals/eco freaks/PETA types lose their marbles.