This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Please read update.

Two high schoolers in Pennsylvania recently caused a social media uproar when they posted a video of themselves torturing a severely injured deer they shot. The shocking video showed the teens violently kicking the wounded, but very much alive and conscious, deer in the face. They laughed while the terrified animal struggled to escape. Please take immediate action to hold these teens accountable for their heartless and inexcusable actions.

The appalling abuse Cody Hetrick, 18, and Alex Smith, 16, inflicted upon the deer they shot is sickening and difficult to watch. Yet, it provides a clear picture into the lives of animals tortured and killed for “sport” by hunters. The only thing unusual about this incident is the perpetrators recorded themselves to document their horrific acts of violence and uploaded the video for others to see. Violent acts like those depicted in this video are not uncommon in hunting.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission, the state government body which encourages hunting, is investigating the video to determine if a crime took place. If? Imagine for a second that, instead of a deer, the victim was a dog or cat. The perpetrators would be arrested and immediately charged with felony animal cruelty. This incident must be treated with the same seriousness. The deer tortured in this video has the same ability to experience pain and fear as dogs or cats, and the punishment of the two deeply disturbed individuals responsible for his immense suffering must be just as severe.

What You Can Do

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Please read update.