[wgflyer]

I remember an English tabloid front page photo of a swan with an arrow in it's neck, still swimming around. The rancor in response was far greater than that toward the crooks in any of the following pages, or editions, who robbed, raped or burgled the general population. That was all ho hum. The people seem to be saying “kill us, rob us, plunder our society, but leave the darned swans alone”. I'm seeing a lot of that on this thread. Cruelty is a fact of life. A society that allows cruelty to it's own members, en masse, can hardly expect lesser critters to be spared. The solution, here, is not protecting or emoting over a bunch of ducks. The solution is to get rid of those who prey on us, which requires a higher standard, which means critters will have much happier lives.

[truthkeeper]

Thanks for the most intelligent post on this thread.

[Flycatcher]

The solution is to get rid of those who prey on us, which requires a higher standard,

I think you may be misunderstanding the outrage on this thread.

You say we need to fight cruelty. I agree. But we need to fight it where we find it. This thread was about a sadistic killing of a freezing raft of ducks. I'll be honest -- had I been there to witness this, this snowmobiler would have been unable to get on his snowmobile after I got through with him.

Now as for crimes against people? What in the world makes you think that I would go easier on someone trying to burglarize my home or rape my daughter? Maybe others yawn (as you suggest) at criminal enterprise, but I don't. And I doubt other FReepers on this thread do either.

Yes, let's fight cruelty. But let's fight cruelty in all its forms.