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Andrea Peyser Still Doesn't Understand Why People Who Kill Pets Should Be Punished
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 14, 2011
Modified Mar 14, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 14, 2011
Modified Mar 14, 2011
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The Post's Andrea Peyser is now taking up the saga of slain hamster, Sweetie, who was killed during a Brooklyn family's dispute, because it's the perfect opportunity to wax about how trying to prosecute people who kill pets is a "waste of resources." Guess she hasn't read how animal and/or pet abuse can predict other abusive behavior!
Last week, 19-year-old Monique Smith was arrested and held at Rikers for two days after ASPCA investigators found evidence—and witness statements—that she killed her younger brother's pet hamster. But then charges were dropped because some family members changed their stories; Smith said in a jailhouse interview, "If I saw a hamster in this filthy place, I'd kill it. I didn't kill that hamster, but I'd kill one right now because that's what I'm in here for - a b------t rodent," adding, "It wasn't a body, it was a f-----g rat."
Peyser is sympathetic to Smith's complaints, pointing out the infamous 2003 case where a man was sentenced to two years for viciously stepping on his girlfriend's son's goldfish (the man also assaulted the girlfriend, landing him in prison for another nine years), and writes:
The Brooklyn district attorney, in a brief moment of sanity, dropped the animal-cruelty charge Friday. Her mom had to watch her baby while she was in jail. All this for a dead rat with fuzzy fur.
"It's not strange. It's not remarkable," said Pentangelo. Really?
Pentangelo quoted trial Judge Marcy Kahn's ruling against the goldfish assassin, calling it the "sadistic and depraved act of destroying a family pet." So if Smith simply gassed wild geese in Prospect Park, that might be OK . But what if she destroyed a treasured ant farm? "That might not be OK," said Pentangelo.
Then Peyser brings up Joseph Petcka, the 205-pound man who killed his girlfriend's cat Norman in a fit of rage. Petcka's first trial ended in mistrial so he took a plea deal for 500 hours of community service; in 2008, Peyser lamented, "He killed a cat! Can't this guy get a break?"
Tagged
andrea peyser
animal abuse
animal cruelty
hamster
joseph petcka
monique smith
pet killer
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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