Posted on 08/15/2006 6:39:58 AM PDT by Graybeard58
A dead raccoon was found in the back of a truck owned by the North Port Animal Control Department in Florida. No one knows how it got there. Flies and vultures were seen buzzing the truck, but it wasn't until a vulture landed on it that an officer bothered to investigate. When she did, she discovered the rotting raccoon, which police said had been dead for a week.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the officer assigned to the truck, Jessica Miller, charged with animal cruelty, and subjected to psychological evaluation and counseling. "PETA is asking that if convicted and in addition to serving a period of incarceration, Miller be prohibited from having personal and professional contact with animals and that authorities seize any animals currently in her custody."
Ms. Miller, who was on vacation when the raccoon ruckus occurred, told police she has no idea who put the animal in the truck. It's a mystery that may never be solved.
By the way, North Port is in Sarasota County. According to the Sheriff's Department, the county had 17 homicides from 2002-05. PETA expressed not a word of outrage over the deaths of those sentient beings.
Anybody wanna take a stab at the "mystery" of who or what organization put the raccoon in the truck?
"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the officer assigned to the truck, Jessica Miller, charged with animal cruelty, and subjected to psychological evaluation and counseling."
Someone in this story sure needs psychological counseling.
Come on, that's too easy...
Here is PETA's press release:
http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=8744
Kristin DeJournett 757-622-7382
North Port, Fla. - This morning, PETA sent an urgent plea to State Attorney Earl Moreland urging him to vigorously prosecute Jessica Miller, a former North Port animal control officer. Miller faces charges stemming from the discovery of a raccoon’s rotting remains inside her police-assigned truck. Authorities believe that Miller trapped the animal on June 2 and then failed to release her before her remains were found inside the truck—with flies swarming around the vehicle and vultures sitting on top of it—on June 9. Investigators reportedly found signs that the raccoon had tried to claw her way out of her confinement before she succumbed to heat exhaustion or dehydration after three days.
“Miller appears to be either unable or unwilling to provide even the most basic care to animals,” says PETA Cruelty Caseworker Kristin DeJournett. “Furthermore, animal control officers are trusted to protect animals from abuse, which makes Miller’s alleged carelessness all the more troubling.”
PETA is asking that¯if convicted and in addition to serving a period of incarceration—Miller be prohibited from having personal and professional contact with animals and that authorities seize any animals currently in her custody.
For more information, please visit HelpingAnimals.com.
PETA’s letter to State Attorney Earl Moreland follows.
August 8, 2006
The Honorable Earl Moreland
Office of the State Attorney, 12th Judicial Circuit
Criminal Justice Building
2071 Ringling Blvd., Ste. 400
Sarasota, FL 34237-7000
Dear Mr. Moreland:
We hope that this finds you well. This letter concerns a recent case of cruelty to animals that your office is handling, involving Jessica Miller, 27. Miller faces charges stemming from her alleged June fatal neglect of a raccoon whom she trapped in North Port while employed as an animal control officer for the city. Miller is accused of trapping the animal on June 2 and neglecting to release her. The animal’s rotting remains were evidently found in a trap in her fly- and vulture-surrounded vehicle on June 9. Investigators apparently concluded that the animal survived for three days without any food or water and that she clawed at the inside of the compartment that held her before dying a slow and excruciating death of heat exhaustion or dehydration.
If Miller—as a city servant sworn to protect animals from abuse—behaved in such a careless manner, her alleged actions were all the more egregious.
Mental health professionals and top law enforcement officials consider the blatant disregard for life and desensitization to suffering evidenced by all forms of cruelty to animals to be a red flag. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association identifies cruelty to animals as one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders, and the FBI uses reports of these crimes in analyzing the threat potential of suspected and known criminals. Experts agree that it is the severity of the behavior—not the species of the victim—that matters.
Miller’s reported resignation¯although it is quite possibly in animals’ best interests¯in no way absolves her alleged actions, and we respectfully urge you to vigorously prosecute her on these charges. On behalf of our thousands of members and supporters in Florida, we respectfully ask that, if convicted and in addition to serving a period of incarceration, Miller be required to undergo a thorough psychological evaluation followed by mandatory counseling at her own expense. Because repeat crimes are the rule rather than the exception among animal abusers and given the defendant’s apparent prolonged and utter disregard for the life and suffering of an animal in her custody, we implore your office to take every measure necessary to ensure that she, if convicted, is barred from all future personal and professional contact with animals and to immediately seize any animals who remain in her charge.
Thank you for your diligence in this matter and for your time and continued consideration.
Sincerely,
Kristin DeJournett, Cruelty Caseworker
Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department
PETA did, otherwise they would have completely ignored this homicide too.
Actually, the Florida raccoons are quite capable of getting into anything. Let's not discount the fact that a coon made it into the truck on its own and could not get out. Ms. Miller was on vacation so death by water starvation (a wonderfully peaceful way to go, we're told) and / or heat stroke likely felled the masked beast.
Maybe it just crawled in there and died. Maybe someone left their lunch in the back of the truck. PETA is a bunch of nuts. They tried to get the Boy Scouts to stop offering the Fishing merit badge a couple of years ago (it requires catching fish of two different species and preparing a fish to be eaten).
Was it in a cage/trap? That would mean they trapped it and jsut forgot about it...
So true....that's why God gave us compassion.
You have to read "Al Franken is a Gapped Tooth Moron." The author has a chapter on PETA and some of the inane things they want/say/do. It's a real pants-pisser!
After persevering that long just to feed the vultures, I would think PETA would want to give her an award.
History suggests the opposite, which is why limiting the number of enforceable rights is as important to securing liberty as is putting them in the Constitution.
When government gains the power to confer rights to any constituency, it acquires the means to confer power upon itself as an enforcing agent. There is then no limit to the power to dilute the rights of citizens. Civic respect for unalienable rights of citizens then exists not at all.
I wonder if the PETA people demanded that their followers who put the dead dogs in dumpsters get psychological testing. I love animals and I would never in a million years throw one in the garbage.
Good G-d! Is there any doubt that this is a Communist front organization?
I have told my wife that when I die to just hire a couple of guys to drag my carcass over to the nearby Illinois River and toss it in. Fish gotta eat too,
Would you change that to the Iroquois River? My old USMC pal who lives in Chebanse has been complaining about the local fishing lately...
Yes, lets torture and kill all the cats, dogs, etc... we want without any repercussions. That sounds like a great idea.
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