PETITION CLOSED
PETITION TARGET: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
UPDATE (6/2/2022): We sent our petition, signed by more than 30,000 people, over to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. We’ve since learned that in November 2020, the Capitol in Salem held a “fact-finding hearing” because of the controversy surrounding the death of the bobcat kitten, according to OPB, but that there was no internal investigation by the Oregon State Police. We are disappointed that a more thorough investigation was not made into this needless cruelty, and we will keep doing all we can to fight for animals everywhere. — Lady Freethinker Staff
*
A curious bobcat kitten was brutally bludgeoned to death for wandering into a Eugene, Ore., elementary school.
The unnecessary and shocking tragedy occurred shortly after employees at the Oak Hill School noticed the unexpected young visitor. They barricaded the baby animal in an office and summoned authorities. Then, using a catchpole, a deputy removed the bobcat from the school.
But things took a gruesome turn when a state trooper fatally struck the innocent kitten’s head with a blunt object.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife defended the needless killing as a necessary alternative to freeing the bobcat back into the wild, citing the animal’s entry into the school as “abnormal behavior.” Yet, that very same week, another young bobcat was found roaming the school and was removed without incident.
This outrageous argument has not convinced experienced wildlife experts, who refer to the incident as “barbarism.”
“In my 40+ years of working with wildlife, I’ve never seen a more brutal, callous example of this agency’s indifference to an animal in need of a helping hand — like letting it out the window,” said Brooks Fahy, the executive director of the Eugene-based wildlife advocacy organization Predator Defense.
ODFW also justified the use of blunt force trauma because it’s permitted under the agency’s policy as a method of “humane euthanasia.”
Bludgeoning a non-threatening animal for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is not humane. The many unanswered questions surrounding the disturbing incident must be addressed and ODFW must take action to ensure the protection of animals.
Sign this petition urging the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to thoroughly investigate the bobcat kitten’s death and to amend inhumane euthanasia policies. Help prevent gruesome actions like this from happening to innocent animals again.
