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But those of us who were raised on farms or otherwise understand that animals and humans are nowhere near the same thing, understand how a boy, with our sensibilities, would not equate the action with doing it to a human any more than they would equate carving their initials in a tree to carving them in a person’s forehead. It doesn’t make what the boys did right, but I suspect a lot of animals have sacrificed life and limb teaching boys empathy. I remember, in sixth grade, getting a BB gun and shooting a robin right in the chest. It fell out of the tree in front of me and I felt TERRIBLE. Never did it again. Never even thought about doing it again. And 50+ years later it leaves a mark. But now, I didn’t need jail time.

Bravo. Kids do STUPID things. It's how we learn. The last thing we need is people telling us that every time someone does something stupid or thoughtless to an animal that they're a future serial killer.

All well and good, but these three should be required to work at an animal shelter for a couple of months to drive the lesson home ...