A Brookvile, Pennsylvania teenager got 2 years of probation by pleading guilty to animal cruelty charges after he was seen torturing a living deer in a viral video.
Alexander Smith, 18, and a 17-year-old juvenile were shown laughing while viciously stomping and kicking the deer before tearing its antler off as the animal helplessly endured the assault.
He was originally charged with multiple felonies related to aggravated cruelty to animals, but most of those were dismissed. Instead of jail time, the Smith will get 200 hours of community service and must be available to the game commission to speak at hunting safety courses, schools and youth groups. He was also fined $2,150 and lose his hunting license for 15 years.
Unfortunately, this is a slap on the wrist for the magnitude of the crime. Once again, a beautiful living animal experienced a horrific death at the hands of a human being — and the terror provided entertainment to its killer.
At Karmagawa, we want to expose stories like this so that we can all teach others that this behavior is wrong and should never happen. Unfortunately, that’s a lesson many still need to learn.
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(Cover image: piotr adamski/Shutterstock)