| "I'm scared through all this that what they did to my animals will be forgotten." - Pam Quintier, the birds' guardian, quoted in the News-Press , May 13, 2004
http://www.news-press.com/news/local_state/040513geese.html
Letters: mailbag@news-press.com (Ph: 239-332-7581)
Earlier this week, three teenagers (in custody but not named by the police due to their ages of 15 and 13) took a 12-year-old African goose named Wilma and a blind duck named Blind Duck from their pen in a backyard in Fort Myers Shores, Florida. They allegedly stuffed the birds into a portable toilet, lit some pond fronds underneath, and burned the birds to death. These youths face animal cruelty charges if the law enforcement investigation now underway provides enough evidence to go to court.
Immediately upon reading the May 13 article in the Fort Myers newspaper, the News-Press ("3 youths face animal cruelty charges: Teens linked to 8 other Fort Myers fires" by Sarah Lundy), UPC President Karen Davis contacted the Lee County (FL) Sheriff's Office and the Juvenile Court and wrote letters to the Sheriff, the newspaper, and the juvenile justice division urging a full investigation.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Please write a polite letter to the Lee County Sheriff's Office and urge that a thorough investigation of the animal cruelty charges against the three teenagers be conducted with a view to prosecution if the evidence warrants going to court. The investigation is expected to take three weeks.
Sheriff Rodney Shoap
Lee County Sheriff's Office
14750 Six Mile Cypress Parkway
Fort Myers, FL 33912
Phone: 239-477-1200
Fax: 239-477-1345
(No email address)
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
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