South Carolina: Bethany Polutta, 18, Austin Kizer, 19, and two juveniles arrested after posting photos and videos of themselves laughing, torturing and beating an opossum to death

SOUTH CAROLINA -- Two adults and two teenagers are facing misdemeanor charges after a “disturbing” video was posted on Snapchat that showed an opossum being hung by its tail dangling over a dog and beaten with a baseball bat.

However, animal activists groups are pushing for further charges in an online petition, saying that the misdemeanor charges “in no way cover(s) the actions of these defendants.”

Bethany Polutta, 18, of Summerville, South Carolina and Austin Kizer, 19, of St. George, South Carolina, along with two people under age 18, have been charged with ill treatment of an animal, according to David Lucas, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

Lucas said the two adults will appear in magistrate’s court, while the juveniles’ cases will be handled in family court.

 

Authorities began investigating the incident in September when a video was posted on Snapchat that appeared to show several teenagers beating an opossum with a baseball bat in a garage.

People who saw the Snapchat video took screenshots of the incident and turned them over to the Department of Natural Resources, Lucas said.

“I think anyone who saw (the screenshots) would think it’s disturbing,” Lucas said.

The video sparked anger and uproar on social media. Renate Hartland, a wildlife volunteer in Seattle, launched an online petition to Dorchester County Solicitor David Pascoe demanding harsh punishment for the abusers in the video.

Hartland, along with other animal activists, named the opossum “Hope” and started the Facebook page “In Light of Hope” for the animal’s supporters. The Change.org petition has more than 33,000 signatures and the Facebook page has more than 1,400 followers.

The petition requests more serious punishment than the misdemeanor abuse charge, which carries a maximum punishment of 90 days in jail or a fine of up to $1,000 on the first offense.

Instead, petitioners are asking for the offenders to face felony charges for torture, torment, or cruel killing, with a minimum punishment of 180 days in jail.

“The animal suffered repeated, persistent, merciless pain,” the petition reads. “The pain and suffering inflicted upon the opossum goes far beyond anything tolerable in a decent society. This is not ‘generic’ animal suffering, this is specific torture and torment.”

Lucas said Monday that further charges from his department are not expected.

“The case on our end is closed, but the solicitor might further investigate the incident,” he said.

This is the second time in six months the state’s Department of Natural Resources has investigated teenagers abusing an animal on Snapchat.

In May, two Ridgeland, South Carolina men were charged with animal abuse after investigation into photos of a group of men pouring beer down an alligator’s throat.

In response to the opossum incident, PETA has sent letters to schools in the area urging them to implement humane education.

“We’re facing a bullying epidemic, and these boys allegedly beat an opossum to death with a baseball bat and bragged about it on social media,” said PETA spokesperson Marta Holmberg in an online press release. “TeachKind is urging schools to implement humane education and adopt an official policy against cruelty to animals that will help prevent a shocking crime like this one from occurring again.”

(Miami Herald - Oct 9, 2017)

Earlier:

• South Carolina: Future serial killers - Laughing teens tortured and beat opossum to death with a baseball bat then posted photos and videos on Snapchat.

Related:

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

Nebraska: Despite admitting to being present when 3 teen boys killed a cat they'd tortured, judge rules Kirk Van Pelt not guilty of animal cruelty

Australia: Opossum torturer Hunter Jonasen, 18, punched a stranger so hard that 'part of the victim's lip was missing' while on probation for torturing a possum and posting the video to Snapchat

North Carolina: Teens Jared Rose and Kalob Hubbard torture and burn opossum alive and are so proud of themselves they post on Instagram

 

North Carolina: Two future serial killers beat opossum and then set it and its babies on fire, killing it

The sister says of the opossum, "You shot its tongue off. The poor thing.... oh my God. This is way more bloodier than the skunk."

New York: Several teens filmed themselves gleefully torturing a turtle to death. Maximum punishment? $250 fine and "up to 15 days in jail". But we all know that jail time will NEVER happen.

Hawaii: Christian Gutierrez given 45-days in jail for torturing albatross birds to death by breaking their bones, chopping off their feet, kicking them, stomping them, and beating them to death with a baseball bat.

South Carolina: Future serial killers - Laughing teens tortured and beat opossum to death with a baseball bat then posted photos and videos on Snapchat.

SOUTH CAROLINA -- The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is investigating after photos posted on social media showed a group of teens torturing and beating an opossum in the air with a baseball bat, beating it with a stick and holding the animal by its tail, trying to get a dog to attack it.

David Lucas, a DNR spokesman, said the agency received a complaint about the incident over the weekend. A tip sent to DNR included screenshots from a Snapchat video that investigators believe was recorded in the Summerville area.

 

Investigators have identified the people in the video and are talking with the teens and their parents, Lucas said. It was not known Tuesday whether charges will be filed.

Cierra Black watched the Snapchat video filmed by a mutual friend and shared the images to Facebook and with DNR.

Black said the video began with people poking at the opossum on a table in a garage. 

 

 

A girl can be heard laughing saying, "You broke its leg haha!"

A teen grabbed the animal by its tail and held it over a dog. Black said one person threw the opossum in the air and another hit it with a baseball bat. 

The animal landed on the ground where the individuals continued to beat it with a bat, she said. 

"Disturbing is the word that comes to mind," Lucas said of the images.

I don't know what's more disturbing: the fact that they were OK with torturing and killing a small defenseless animal or the fact that they were so proud of their handiwork that they quickly uploaded photos and videos to Snapchat in an effort to be 'internet famous' with other like-minded sadists.

The incident comes at a time when another South Carolina wildlife cruelty case is fresh on people's minds.

In May, two Jasper County men were charged with misdemeanor harassment of wildlife for allegedly pouring beer into an alligator's mouth. DNR was also alerted to that case thanks to photos posted on social media.

Anonymous tips may be submitted to DNR's Operation Game Thief line at 1-800-922-5431 or by downloading the SCDNR Tips app from iTunes or Google Play.

 

  

  

 

Update: 
Four of these disgusting human beings have been arrested and charged.

Bethany Polutta, 18, of Summerville, South Carolina and Austin Kizer, 19, of St. George, South Carolina, along with two people under age 18, have been charged with ill treatment of an animal, according to David Lucas, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. 

(Post and Courier - Sept 19, 2017)

United Kingdom: Convicted sex offender Igor Rusakov, 26, sent woman video showing himself sexually abusing an animal

UNITED KINGDOM -- A convicted sex offender applying to be a topless butler via a dating app sent his prospective employer an explicit video of himself involving an animal.

Igor Rusakov began talking to a woman after matching with her on Tinder, where she revealed she was setting up a topless butler business.

Telford Magistrates Court heard that when he expressed an interest the woman asked him to send her photos.

Rusakov, 26, instead sent her two sexually explicit videos of himself - one of which involved an animal - along with an indecent photograph.

Adam Warner, prosecuting, told the court the woman was 'disgusted' by the videos and found it 'distressing' that an animal had been involved.

The woman, from Shropshire, reported the videos to police who then seized electronic devices from Rusakov's home.

Officers found four indecent videos showing naturist activity with children, a sexually explicit image of a person performing an indecent act with an animal and a recording of a woman having a shower.

Mr Warner told the court Rusakov was seen setting up the recording equipment before a woman was seen to take a shower.

Mr Warner said: 'In a police interview he admitted to all of this but he doesn't show much in the way of remorse or accepting it as unusual behaviour.'

He also told magistrates that the woman said she had never been exposed to such content before and in her opinion Rusakov should be banned from keeping animals.

Rusakov, from Coventry, pleaded guilty to voyeurism, possessing an extreme pornographic image, making indecent videos of children and sending two indecent videos and an indecent image. The offences date back to between 2007 and 2015.

Mr Paul Nicholas, representing Rusakov, said he had not contacted the woman he sent the indecent videos and photograph to for two years, arguing a restraining order was not needed.

He said Rusakov was already registered as a sex offender. Rusakov was given a three-year community order. He will have to complete a sex offender treatment programme and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Rusakov was also ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work and pay £185 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

(Daily Mail - July 8, 2017)

Pennsylvania: Idiot Dylan Tressler posts photo of himself holding two ducks which were brutally killed; moron Josh Jenkins-Howenstine charged with animal cruelty

PENNSYLVANIA -- A disturbing photo that is circulating on social media shows a golfer holding up two dead ducks.

The ducks lived at Duck Hollow Golf Course in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

 

 

"They are residents of the golf course, and they are well-known throughout the golf course community," said Trooper Robert Broadwater.

Duck Hollow Golf Course only had two white ducks. They were inseparable and wandered around the course, following the golfers every day.

"They do follow them around, back and forth to the club house, and back and forth to the parking lot," Broadwater said.

Now, the golfing community in Uniontown is outraged after a photo surfaced on social media, showing a golfer holding up the two ducks, which were killed over the weekend. There is speculation they were run over.

State police are actively investigating and did several interviews Tuesday.

WPXI spoke to Dylan Tressler, the man in the photo who said he and his family members are now receiving death threats. He confirmed he took the photo with the dead ducks, but claims he isn't the one who killed them; when he found them, he says they were already dead. He also said he regrets taking the photo.

Yeah I pick up dead things all the time, smile and pose for photos and then post these photos online. In fact, I came across a dead baby just yesterday. It was just lying there, totally dead, y'know? I picked it up, hung it upside down. It was soooo funny! LOL! 💀 😆😆😆😆😆😆 💀

 

A Duck Hollow Course official said that state police were immediately contacted, saying in part, "We had two ducks. The ducks and all of the wildlife are a part of what makes Duck Hollow a special place."

Troopers say they could file animal-cruelty charges.

Update: 

Dylan Tressler was cleared of torturing and killing the ducks, but he's still guilty of being an odious jackass.

Police have said they have identified another man Josh Jenkins-Howenstine, aka Bubbie Jenkins, 21, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania as the suspect and they have arrested and charged him with cruelty to animals. Sources say he purposely ran down the ducks and killed them with a golf cart.

Of course, now Bubbie is telling the cops he was sh*tfaced drunk while driving a golf cart at Duck Hollow golf course and that he MAY have run over both ducks... but IF he did do it, it certainly wasn't intentional. IF he did do it, it would've been a complete accident. 

Yeah right. If you believe that, you also believe Kim Kardashian is "all natural".

 

Bubbie may want to get re-inked to add "and twelve jurors"

(The Palm Beach Post - June 6, 2017)

Alabama: Daniel Dunn, 28, accused of sodomizing a minor, producing child porn and raping a dog. His fiance, Kelsey Culp, also charged

ALABAMA -- An Alabama man has been arrested and charged with repeatedly sodomizing a young child, producing child pornography and having sex with RAPING a dog.

Daniel Ray Dunn, 28, was initially arrested on May 26 on three counts of child pornography, sodomy and bestiality, and on May 31 two additional charges of first-degree sodomy were filed against him.

Court records say the new charges stem from incident on April 24 and May 23, and that Dunn "did engage in deviate sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 12."

The man was also accused of filming a sexual encounter involving the child and committing a sexual act on a dog (rape).

On the pornography count, the arrest warrant states that Dunn did 'knowingly film photograph, record, or otherwise produce any obscene matter that contains a visual reproduction of a person under the age of 17, to wit, engaged in any act of sado-masochistic abuse, sexual excitement, masturbation, breast nudity or genital nudity', reported Al.com.

On the bestiality count, the document alleges the man 'engaged in or submitted to any sexual contact with an animal, to wit, a female dog'.

 

 

Dunn's fiancee, 22-year-old Kelsey Culp, was also arrested and charged with bestiality on May 30 after she 'allegedly caused, aided or abetted another engaging in any sexual contact with an animal,' according to arrest warrants.

Culp was released from the Shelby County jail last Wednesday after posting $6,000 bond. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail and a fine.

Dunn's bond was initially set at $506,000, but it was raised to $1.06 million after the additional charges were brought against him on Friday. He is due in court for his initial appearance on June 29.

According to Culp’s Facebook page, the couple got engaged in late March. On her social media account the 22-year-old describes her occupation as a stay-at-home mom.

 

 

(Daily Mail - June 5, 2017)

(May 2017) South Carolina: Joseph Floyd, 20, and Zachary Brown, 21, arrested after shocking pictures emerge showing the heartless suspects torturing a baby alligator for fun

SOUTH CAROLINA -- Two men have been charged with harassing a baby alligator after they forced the helpless animal's jaws open and made it drink beer.

Shocking images show the suspects prying the reptile's jaws open as they pour beer down its throat.

They added this caption, believing themselves to be so
clever. Instead, most people who saw this were horrified
and disgusted with Joseph Floyd Jr and Zachary Brown

The two men captured the sickening act on  Snapchat before the images were uploaded to Facebook.

Joseph Andrew Floyd (Joe Floyd, Joseph Floyd Jr.), 20, and Zachary Lloyd Brown (Zack Brown), 21, both of Ridgeland, were each charged with harassment of an alligator, The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said on Friday.

They admitted to officers that they picked up the alligator after they saw it crossing the a public dirt road between Hardeeville and Tillman in Jasper County.

They then poured beer into the animal’s mouth and took photos to post on social media.

According to Floyd Jr., they CLAIMED they released the alligator and watched it swim away in a nearby pond.

The pair now face a maximum $300 fine. 

The shocking photographs which were posted on Snapchat show an 18-to-20 inch alligator being held by an individual as its jaws are forced open.

Another image shows someone blowing smoke into the alligator's mouth – what's known as 'shotgun' style.

The images are more horrifying because the people involved are seen squeezing the gator's throat.

'The photos were uploaded onto Snapchat by one of the kids doing harm to the animal, people saw it, got angry and they did screen shots of the images,' said Kyndel McConchie of the SC Department of Natural Resources.

Since Kyndel McConchie is referring to two men, ages 20 and 21, as "kids" then I'll go ahead and add a "child is abuser" tag to this post.

'That's how it came to our attention.'

So far, authorities are not specifying where or when these incidents took place.

'It almost brought me to tears,' one disgusted person said in a Facebook post.

'People torturing a baby gator, pouring beer in its mouth, blowing smoke in its mouth, just being plain cruel....It literally made me sick to my stomach.'

That baby alligator is dead. There's no way they simply turned it loose when torturing it was so much fun for them. Children and adolescents who derive pleasure from the torment, torture, abuse and deaths of animals have serious psychological issues that need to be addressed immediately. 

(Daily Mail - May 26, 2017)