July 23, 1997

Today in Tarrant County the District Attorney's Office announced it will not press cruelty charges against Steven and Russell Vinson, the two medical doctors who beat to death twenty- two penned emus with aluminum baseball bats on June 28, 1997.

The district attorney's office told UPC president Karen Davis on July 21 that there was no proof that the men's conduct was cruel. He said that maybe if the men had starved the birds or set them on fire the case might be different. The last bird to die in the pen was described by the humane investigator as "vomiting blood and staggering until it fell on the ground and couldn't get up anymore."

Attorney Richard Alpert, who recommended not to prosecute, told Karen Davis that breeders all over Texas are beating their emus to death "even as we speak." He said the only difference between the Vinsons and others is that the other breeders "generally tie the birds up first." He said this as if to say that the fact that others are beating their emus to death makes it a common practice so it is not "cruel" or a crime under the law.

• Contact:
  Robert Mayfield
  Deputy Chief, Misdemeanor Court
  Tarrant County Criminal Justice Building
  401 West Belknap
  Fort Worth TX 76196
  ph: 817-884-1649
  fax: 817-884-2499
  
  

  Tell him to revise the decision and to recommend prosecution of Steven and Russell Vinson, the two brothers who beat their captive emus to death. Their decision compounds the evil and sends a message to other breeders that they can beat their birds to death without fear of legal consequences.