Pennsylvania: Wildlife officer investigating alleged stomping death of groundhog

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer is investigating the killing of a groundhog by at least one Snyder County resident who posted a video on social media.

Officer Harold Malehorn said he received a complaint about the alleged Aug. 1 incident and early this week viewed the video posted on Twitter.

At least three to four people were captured on the video as one male appeared to stomp the animal to death, he said.

Malehorn said he's spoken with several of the people on the tape, including an 18-year-old and an older adult male, who denied killing a live groundhog.

"They claim it was already dead. They said it was a hoax," he said of the men, all Selinsgrove Area School graduates.

Someone who derives pleasure from the torture and
killing of animals is likely to abuse and kill humans.

Based on the video, which is no longer online, and photographs posted on Facebook, Malehorn doubts the animal was dead before the beating was carried out.

"It's not conclusive," said Malehorn, who continues to investigate.

If confirmed, he said, summary charges of unlawful taking of a groundhog could be filed and fines of up to $200 imposed.

A charge of animal cruelty only applies for domesticated animals, not wildlife, he said.

In June, four members of Southern Columbia High School's champion 2015 football team and one player from Danville High School were cited for killing several animals by BEATING THEM TO DEATH WITH BASEBALL BATS and then proudly posting photos of themselves with the carcasses.

The animals targeted were possums, pigeons, frogs, a raccoon and snake.

Last week, two Troy, N.Y., police officers (Tyler Sammon and Matt Spath) were suspended amid claims they purposely used a golf cart to chase a groundhog until it was exhausted and then ran over it and killed it while participating in a police union's golf tournament.

 

WHY IT'S NOT "JUST A GROUNDHOG":
There is something wrong with people who gain enjoyment from the suffering of others. Who, in history, has been like this? Ted Bundy? The BK Killer? The Boston Strangler?

It is even more disturbing that someone sworn to protect and serve may have been the ones who did this horrific deed.

Animals feel pain and terror just like we do. A groundhog feels pain and terror just like your beloved cat or dog.

(Sunbury Daily Item - Aug 11, 2016)

Related:

• New York: Authorities investigating reports that two police officers used a golf cart to purposely run over and kill a groundhog
• New York: Rensselaer County Police Officers Tyler Sammon and Matt Spath accused of deliberately chasing and exhausting groundhog and then running over and killing it

• Pennsylvania: High school football players charged with animal cruelty, accused of beating, torturing and killing animals for fun

New York: Rensselaer County Police Officers Tyler Sammon and Matt Spath accused of deliberately chasing and exhausting groundhog and then running over and killing it

NEW YORK -- Two police officers are accused of ruthlessly chasing down a groundhog with their golf course and running over it.

The officers, who work with the Rensselaer police department in upstate New York, were suspended with pay on Friday pending an investigation over an incident at a Troy golf club which the chief of police says has 'humiliated' him.

The officers have been identified by Rensselaer Chief of Police Rick Fusco as Tyler Sammon and Matt Spath, according to News 10.

The incident took place during a police union's golf tournament at the Frear Park Golf Course in the city of Troy last Friday. There were at least 80 officers participating in the tournament.

Authorities say witnesses saw the men chase down the critter and deliberately run over it, killing it.

'When you're talking about harming an innocent animal, this is embarrassing,' Fusco said. 'I'm humiliated.'

Fusco said he will attempt to fire both officers if an investigation finds them guilty.

'Things in this country, with police officers right now, are not good. You have an innocent animal killed by a police officer, it's a perfect storm. I understand the outrage and I support the outrage because if this happened, I'm outraged myself,' he told WNYT .

'They're police officers if they did this and intentionally ran over an animal and killed it, that's disturbing to me.'

Sammon has been an officer for three years and Spath for eight, reported the outlet.

Troy City Council President Carmella Mantello said the city has zero tolerance for that behavior, according to TWC News.

Rensselaer Chief of Police Rick Fusco

Fusco admitted that the incident came to the department's attention from Facebook, when a witness from Troy posted it as a status and others began copying the status to the Rensselaer County police department's inactive page.

The original status, which read:

'While playing Frear Park golf course today, I witnessed two people in a golf cart chase down a woodchuck until it couldn't run anymore and then they ran over it with their golf cart.'

'The woodchuck managed to crawl about ten feet and rolled around a little before it died. I later learned that the two people were police officers from the City of Rensselaer, playing in a golf tournament. To the both of you: you guys must really feel good about yourselves, killing an innocent animal. To make it worse, there was a baby woodchuck nearby on hole number 12 probably wondering where it's mother was.'

Outrage followed the posts.

'Haha... put on administrative leave ...That is a joke!...They should be fired immediately!!!!!!!!' wrote one person.

'Someone with a sadistic streak like this has no business in a career of protecting and serving,' wrote another.

(Daily Mail - Aug 6, 2016)

Earlier:

• New York: Authorities investigating reports that two police officers used a golf cart to purposely run over and kill a groundhog

New York: Authorities investigating reports that two police officers used a golf cart to purposely run over and kill a groundhog

NEW YORK -- Authorities say they're investigating reports that two police officers used a golf cart to purposely run down and kill a groundhog during a tournament hosted by an upstate New York police department's union.

Officials in Troy said Monday that witnesses reported seeing the cart drive over tee boxes and onto greens at the city-owned Frear Park Golf Course on Friday afternoon. City Council President Carmella Mantello says officials have been told two men used the cart to hunt down the animal and run it over near one of the course's holes.

"That's crazy, that's crazy," said golfer Rich Warren, playing Monday on the Troy Municipal course. "You don't have to chase one down. They don't come after you, they stay on the edge of the woods. Once in a while they come out, they don't bother anybody."

William Meissner, identified by WNYT as a former head of the Troy Housing Authority, took to Facebook to describe the scene at Frear Park Golf Course last Friday afternoon.

"While playing Frear Park golf course today, I witnessed two people in a golf cart chase down a [groundhog] until it couldn't run anymore," said Meissner, "and then they ran over it with their golf cart. The [groundhog] managed to crawl about ten feet and rolled around a little before it died."

Stock photo of mama groundhog with her babies. The
gleeful enjoyment of torturing and killing innocent
animals is disgusting. If these are police officers,
they need to be fired immediately.

"To the both of you: you guys must really feel good about yourselves, killing an innocent animal. To make it worse, there was a baby woodchuck nearby on hole number 12 probably wondering where it's (sic) mother was. DON'T EVER COME BACK TO FREAR PARK."

The incident occurred while the police union for the department in the nearby city of Rensselaer was hosting a tournament. More than 80 people participated, not all of them police officers.

Officials in both cities say they're investigating the incident.

WHY IT'S NOT "JUST A GROUNDHOG":
There is something wrong with people who gain enjoyment from the suffering of others. Who, in history, has been like this? Ted Bundy? The BK Killer? The Boston Strangler? It is even more disturbing that someone sworn to protect and serve may have been the ones who did this horrific deed. Animals feel pain and terror just like we do. A groundhog feels pain and terror just like your beloved cat or dog. 

(WHEC - Aug 2, 2016)

Massachusetts: Groundhog day gone wrong: Woodchuck tries to poke out through hole but gets stuck in storm drain instead

MASSACHUSETTS -- A groundhog trying to peek through the wrong hole on the ground in Massachusetts got stuck in a storm drain and required a police rescue.

The chubby rodent was found Friday morning in Danvers while a couple of local women walked their dogs.

Police officers from Danvers and nearby Wenham came to the rescue, alongside workers from the local public works departments.

'His face was partway up through the storm drain grate,' rescuer John Barbieri, of the Danvers Department of Public Works, told the Salem News.
   
The woodchuck's furry head peeked through the impossibly small hole in the grate, its face dazed while workers figured out what to do.

Barbieri and his team picked up the grate — the groundhog dangling by its neck — and moved it to the side of the road.

The rodent finally managed to wiggle itself free, fell back on the ground and ran away.

'He just needed some leverage,' said an eyewitness.

 

Cops say they don't often rescue animals in Danvers, a suburb some 25 miles north of Boston — but this isn't their first time, either.

'I know they rescued some ducklings earlier this spring that fell into a sewer grate,' Sarah Slavin, of the Danvers PD, told the Boston Globe.

(Daily Mail - August 10, 2014)

Yes, rodents do get rabies

VERMONT -- A woodchuck that bit a South Road resident over the weekend has been confirmed as having rabies, according to Williston police.

After being bitten, the resident killed the animal and brought it to the Vermont Health Department Lab where it tested positive for rabies, police said.

Police said Williston's animal control officer urges residents to vaccinate their pets and livestock. Residents should be cautious about approaching wildlife.

For more information or if an animal is acting strange, residents should call the rabies hotline at 1-800-472-2437.

(Burlington Free Press - July 22, 2014)

This home invasion was an inside job

OHIO -- The fugitive has been captured. We don't normally report intruders in our columns but this is just a wee bit different.

It turns out that there was a break-in of sorts at the Heritage Farm Museum of the Brunswick Area Historical Society and the culprit eluded capture by the authorities until – you guessed it – April Fool's Day. And it took an apple to do it.

The guilty party was a groundhog who we probably sealed in the house when the foundation was renovated and closed up tight in December.



The little guy was captured and then released to freedom

Groundhogs hibernate, so the critter was probably there somewhere. Then we started getting reports of items toppled over and a window popped out. Well, finally it was determined it was the groundhog trying to get out.

Ed Kelly from the Parks and Recreation Department and Mike Kellums, animal control officer, set a live trap. But whatever the bait was, it wasn't working until Ed placed an apple in the trap. The same day, they were able to successfully remove the uninvited guest.

With the alarms all reset it's kind of back to normal.

(Sun News - April 4, 2014)

Police identify suspect in cemetery flag thefts

NEW YORK -- Hudson Police believe they have identified the perpetrators of a rash of flag thefts in the Grand Army of the Republic section of Cedar Park Cemetery. It appears to have been an inside job: All signs are now pointing to some underground residents of the cemetery itself.

Around 75 flags have been reported missing from Civil War graves in the days leading up to and following our nation’s Independence Day celebrations.

The culprit?

Woodchucks.

“I think for the most part we’ve confirmed that’s the case,” Mayor Bill Hallenbeck said Saturday.
Police used pole cameras to check woodchuck holes. “They confirmed there are flags down there.”

The pole camera images are not in color, he said, but the white-and-black images were close enough to identify the flags.

While that evidence could be circumstantial, the police also have still photos from a motion-activated camera that showed a gopher at a flag, the mayor said.

“Shortly after this, another one showed the flag was gone,” he said.

Hallenbeck said he was happy to hear it wasn’t a resident.

“I’m glad we don’t have someone who has taken it upon themselves to desecrate the stones and the flags in front of them,” he said.

Apparently, some flags are now coated with a substance that attracts woodchucks, Hallenbeck said. Lt. Richard Paolino learned via a Google search that other municipalities have been having the same problem and this may be the cause.

Police Commissioner Gary Graziano was out of town, but he said via telephone, “What I heard is there appeared to be remnants of a flag or flags in a hole next to that area (the Grand Army of the Republic section), and a woodchuck or groundhog was confirmed to be on the scene.”

Cemetery volunteer caretaker Vincent Wallace participated in the investigation. Although he said he had seen no definitive evidence, “right now it looks like the woodchuck is the culprit. He was right there where the flag was gone.”

In addition, Wallace said, “the mechanics of removal from the pole indicate that an animal had removed them.”

Investigators observed that flags had been pulled down with the flagpole still in the holder, Wallace said.

“The flag is only a foot to 18 inches off the ground,” he said. “A human would have ripped it upwards.”

Wallace said the woodchuck dens, with their twists and turns, were presenting some problems to the pole cameras, which are rigid.

Woodchucks, he said, are “all over” the cemetery, burrowing under stones and under tree roots.

“The police did a great job,” said Wallace, who assists the cemetery crew in taking care of the Grand Army of the Republic section. “They did stakeouts, they did bike patrols, they had at least four officers on this.”

“We patrolled the daylights out of that place since it was going on,” Graziano said. “We can all rest a little easier knowing that it was a critter and not a human defacing our flags, especially those of the veterans. Now I just need to figure out where to send the bills.”

(The Register Star - July 7, 2012)