PETA Offers £1,000 To Help Nab Goose Abusers

For Immediate Release:
26 March 2009

Contact:
Sam Glover 020 7357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

Firgrove, Rochdale – According to news reports, two young people allegedly shot a Canada goose in the neck with a crossbow on Thursday, 19 March, on the canal in Firgrove before walking away laughing.

PETA is offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information that leads to the apprehension of the people responsible for this horrific crime. Rochdale residents are also being asked to keep an eye out for the goose, who has not been found but who is severely injured and requires urgent help.

This disturbing act of cruelty follows an incident in Rochdale last year in which a gang of children allegedly beat a Staffordshire bull terrier puppy with a stick. PETA is calling on parents, teachers, mentors and youth groups to act.

“Animal abuse is never something to shrug off as a part of growing up”, says PETA spokesperson Suzanne Barnard. “Putting a stop to violent tendencies as soon as they become apparent must be a priority and is everyone’s responsibility.”

Rochdale residents have good reason to be concerned about cruelty-to-animals cases such as these. There is ample evidence that serial rapists and murderers often have histories of past incidents involving cruelty to animals. Child-killers Mary Bell, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables as well as serial murderers Ian Huntley, Thomas Hamilton (Dunblane massacre), Fred West, Denis Nilsen, Ian Brady and Jeffrey Dahmer all started out by deliberately harming animals.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

To order a free humane-education pack that teaches children of any age about the importance of being kind to animals, please visit PETAF.org.uk