vandals

[cellio]

When the story of Toga, the stolen baby penguin, first surfaced several days ago, speculation was that the thief was looking for a chic Christmas present. But in the ensuing days it would have been nearly impossible for the thief to not know that the penguin would only accept food from its parents and that it was slowly starving to death. The zookeepers and police made it easy; return Toga and no questions will be asked. If this theft was the act of someone with more ambition than brains, but not someone fundamentally evil, that would have done the trick. He made a mistake; he could correct it.

However, Toga the penguin is probably dead now; the zoo received an anonymous phone call that his body had been dumped. The thief killed senselessly -- and informed negligence makes him just as guilty as direct killing in my mind. This might have started out as simple theft, but it became senseless vandalism (is there any other kind?). I think this guy, people who neglect their kids' health, and people who drink heavily knowing that they will then drive all deserve the same punishment -- but since Toga is "only" an animal, even if they caught the guy he'd probably get off with a misdemeanor conviction. That's just wrong.

And I feel the same way about all the abusers whose acts don't make the news, too. If someone willfully killed one of my cats I would be just as infuriated as if he had killed a blood relative.

Comments

[dr4b]

I hadn't heard about it until now, but that really is terrible.