This story is near to my heart because I was once almost mauled by a rabid raccoon while on one of my day long rambles through the suburbs of New Jersey. I was only saved from a series of painful rabies shots by my penchant for unusual clothing, including 17 inch leather boots which I thought were quite dashing. They also proved to be raccoon proof which has solidified my preference for tall leather boots ever since. It’s a long story but suffice to say the parks and pathways of New Jersey are not a great place to run into a foaming at the mouth animal, and if you do running across the nearest deep stream will buy you enough time to make your escape.
So when Tennessee Republican Steve King let his Twitter followers know that he ended up putting down a raccoon that kept trying to claw its way into his house I understood that he had to do what he had to do to protect his family. A raccoon is about the size of a medium sized dog and weighs in around 40 pounds. That’s a lot of teeth and claws coming your way if things go wrong. So I personally think King was in the right.
He (King) told Roll Call that he was on a Feb. 9 conference call when the raccoon returned.
King grabbed the Desert Eagle — “It’s the one I had handy,†he told HOH — and went after the raccoon, which fled. But King caught up, fired and killed the creature.
“We can’t have an animal that might be sick, might be rabid, out there,†King said, adding that his granddaughters often play in the area where he spotted the raccoon. “That’s just what has to happen when you live out here in the country.â€
Problem is, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) late this morning has criticized King, with spokesman Jaime Zalac saying King should not have dispatched “a small animal seeking warmth in another blizzard,†a second Roll Call piece relates.
“I would hope he’s not on any (House) committees that make decisions regarding cruel and unusual punishment. Decent people would call animal control for help, not get on Twitter to boast about having a really, really big gun,†Zalac said.
This from an organization that routinely kills animals they take in for their supposed adoption program. Public records show that P.E.T.A. found homes for only 1 out of every 300 animals it’s “no kill” shelter takes in. P.E.T.A. itself admits to killing some 95.8% of the animals they got their hands on in 2008. None of those animals were potentially rabid.
More importantly this response shows that far from being nature lovers P.E.T.A. and their supporters are disconnected from the very natural world they claim to love. Raccoons are dangerous, only people who haven’t seen one think otherwise. Nature is struggle, an endless cycle of beauty and violence that makes life possible and the disconnect from natural law creates people like the Jaime Zalac who have no idea how nature works. People like Zalac believe man has tamed nature but in reality we hide from it, huddling behind a flimsy barricade called civilization that can only offer us temporary shelter.
Raccoons shelter from blizzards in the wild all the time, they don’t need to come into your house. It is unusual behavior which may indicate that the creature is rabid. P.E.T.A. thinks in that situation you should throw caution to the wind and allow your family to be mauled. People who truly love nature know better.
h/t N.R.A.
Rob Taylor,
I wonder if the people at PeTA realize just how bad this makes them look, and to top it off, they actually kill animals because they’re too lazy to take care of them, yet we are to believe that people don’t have the right kill animals in self defense now? Is that what these animal rights extremists are saying now? These people could never survive in the paleolithic, unless they become even bigger hypocrites than they are now.
All I can do is shake my head in aw at the sheer stupidity.
I really love nature, truly. But if a raccoon was trying to get into my home, you bet your ass I’d kill it. By any means necessary. What King did, using a gun and killing it quick, was about as humane as you can get. His family, his grandchildren, must come first.
Do these PETA freaks not have children? Would they not do whatever necessary to protect their child if a wild animal was coming at them? If not, they don’t deserve to have their children.
I used to think these nuts put animals on the same level as humans, but anymore it’s obvious they put animals above humans. Next, they’ll erect statues of animals around the country so we can join hands singing Kumbaya as we worship our new Gods!
If the Statement is true that PETA kills any or most animals it is tasked to protect, then it is hypocrisy and evil, but if the average person had a heart they would try to take care of those animals of different types that need assistance and do what is ever in there power to protect, train and set loose when best any little animal, without letting there wild instinctual nature to be lost. I saw this site when i was searching for what raccoon shelters look like to help raccoons look at and create when they are back in nature in long island NY. I am working with a women who helps orphaned raccoons to be fed , safe , trained and released. This is all within rehabilitation under the D.E.C .
And so you all who open your mouthes about humanity and humaneness and those that talk good and kind to raccoons are those that have never seen one is Bull S..T . I have had many raccoon mothers behind my home at a neighbors shed with there children , they are inquisitive, smart, and loving, with a bit of a nippy wild side but the 2 that i am taking care of in my own home right now at 4+ weeks old when i got them in are unique and yet no different than human children 2 boys , loving. One more aggressive , nippy and the other more shy. Just like human children and all through observation have the same general traits. needing mothers milk supplements by bottle that i feed them and small teeth now nibbles a bit naturally as instinct ;necessary to eat food in the future but like ezekiel 4:9 bread, Organic live sprouted bread, that they love.
So all you So called christians or those that think you have a heart look in the mirror and see who you really are. Bull Sh..ers . It is your fear and lack of heart that makes you act the way you do . Evil. This Coming from a very heterosexual male, Age 38 Ex Army 82nd Airborne Infantry Persian Gulf Veteran. Look in the mirror. Lastly it is you do not give a crap humans that kill raccoons , possums and even cats just trying to cross the road, get a real heart, do not fear but have true love.
I was attacked by a raccoon with rabies and saw a neighbors cat killed by one. Only a person with no idea of what nature is really like could vomit out something so childish and stupid as this.
This is the post that finally convinced me you’re Pagan, and not a 2009-era Charles Johnson of Paganism. Yes. Exactly. Any Pagan who doesn’t understand the dark side of nature does not understand Paganism.
Wow what nice compliment. Now go fuck yourself you pretentious douche. And signing your comments as “bard” while accusing me of role playing is a great example of why the neo-Pagan movement is being destroyed from within.