Steve King And PETA Face Off After Congressman Kills Raccoon

Roll Call:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has weighed in on Rep. Steve King (R) killing a raccoon that tried to crawl its way into his Iowa home -- and not surprisingly, the animal welfare group isn't too pleased.

Read the whole story: Roll Call

Comments

[14q32]

02:49 AM on 02/22/2010

The rabid raccoon population is pretty much limited to the East Coast. In fact, the incidence of rabies in raccoons in the Midwest (i.e. Iowa,) is EXTREMELY rare.

The CDC keeps statistics on every animal (domestic and wildlife) that tests positive for rabies and organizes the information by state/ geography. I can't post the html, but anyone can Google CDC + rabies + epidemiology to get a map of rabies cases across the country for the past several years.

[Iowafarmgal]

10:34 PM on 02/19/2010

I too have had a raccoon come up next to my home and was advised by the DNR to shoot it, bury it, and spray any contact area with bleach. Raccoons do not normally come around humans so when they do you can be fairly assured that the animal is diseased. Rabies and distemper are two common diseases in raccoons. A raccoon is a cute animal but they will tear you apart very quickly. We have had adult dogs drowned by raccoons as they bite the nose of the dog and claw its eyes out while taking it under the water. I live in the country and have been around wildlife for my entire life. Mother nature is not kind, she is not human, and she has no concept of cute or cuddly. The laws she abides by are there for very good reasons, some of which are not obvious to us at the outset. Before you judge those of us who live in the country it would be advisable for you to first understand the rationale for our behavior.

[FerrellGummitt]

10:25 AM on 02/18/2010

PETA can rack this up along some of their other "beefs":
1) Renaming the Green Bay Packers, the Green Bay Pickers, because hey, Packers connotates meat packing, slaughtering Bessie the Cow, whereas "Pickers" means what?, Pick your nose?
2) Sending President Obama a device so that he doesn't have to kill a harmless fly.

Here is how on our priorities lie in America right now:
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court

Did Olbermann call Rep King a "Pottyhead" on last night's broadcast for this outrage to the liberties of this rabid raccoon?

[nopilikia]

09:39 PM on 02/17/2010

Probably just wanted to sport the new Davy Crockett look this spring in Congress.

[research]

07:53 PM on 02/17/2010

I burned some White trash in my fireplace last night....

[BMinDC]

06:18 PM on 02/17/2010

Ugh... How was it necessary to kill that poor animal? I hate it when these crazy hillbillies are sent to my fair city by voters?

[faceplant]

08:29 PM on 02/17/2010

Raccoons aren't Disney characters. This is where PETA starts to get things terribly wrong, and then keeps lurching further and further into lala land. Hillbillys aren't all crazy. Their frame of reference simply differs from yours. Wild raccoons are tough. They've been known to seriously injure pitbulls. I have heard but not witnessed that they can drag small livestock such as rabbits and chickens through the links in chain-link fence. Raccoons are not in particularly short supply. Assuming he doesn't live in a subdivison with neighbors 25' from the other side of his fence, shooting it was probably the safest, simplest course of action. The Desert Eagle part does seem silly. People use enormous, absurd pistols like those to turn deer into food. Then again, if that's the available firearm when the need to shoot something arises, that's what you'll have to use.

[BMinDC]

10:34 PM on 02/17/2010

I am well aware of how nasty raccoons can be, as I do not actually live in DC, I live in a suburb. But I mean, come on! You don't have to shoot a Raccoon with a desert eagle! Any gun which appears in Tom Clancy novels should not be used on animals. Plus, the animal was just TRYING to get into his house. He could easily have prevented the raccoon from getting in without the gun. (and by the way, Iowa is not anywhere near Appalachia, and therefore Steve King is not a hillbilly.)

[CessnaDriver]

05:30 PM on 02/17/2010

I love posting this link:

http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/b/bigheadtoddandthemonsters10221/mooseinmyhouse331706.html

Big Head Todd and the Monsters....

[hugs4u]

04:35 PM on 02/17/2010

Hey PETA if it swims in water, flies in the air or walks on more then two legs on earth, guess what, it is food and I will eat it.

[Robert Cantor]

04:40 PM on 02/17/2010

cats
dogs
but not kangaroos?

[JimR]

04:50 PM on 02/17/2010

Jellyfish swim in water.

[SusanElizabeth1949]

01:17 PM on 04/02/2010

I have eaten excellent dried jellyfish salads in Chinese Restraunts, half orders are frequently on Dim Sum menus.

[RightWingMarine]

03:46 PM on 02/17/2010

call animal control for help? Or he could be a man and take care of the problem himself.

[joeyc]

04:19 PM on 02/17/2010

A real man doesn't need to resort to a firearm to deal with a small animal. A real man is also intelligent enough to animal-proof his house.

"Pa! Haelp! Thay's a masked bandit tryin' break in! Git yer gun!"

[Vickster]

10:33 PM on 02/17/2010

Squirrels are small animals. Rabbits are small animals. Raccoons are not small animals. They can mess you up.

[Iowafarmgal]

10:55 PM on 02/19/2010

That little "masked bandit" would be glad to give you a few love bites, nibble on your ears and nose, and well you didn't need those eyes anyway, did you?

[Robert Cantor]

03:28 PM on 02/17/2010

he shot an animal the size of a large cat with bullets the size of your thumb

what a kook

[RightWingMarine]

03:43 PM on 02/17/2010

what difference does it make what size the bullet was? Would the animal be less dead if it was shot with a .22?

[Robert Cantor]

01:19 AM on 02/18/2010

yes, it would be less dead if shot with a .22 then blown to pieces with large caliber slugs

you should know that

[Vickster]

10:35 PM on 02/17/2010

Re: "He shot an animal the size of a large cat..."

A large bobcat, maybe.

[Robert Cantor]

01:16 AM on 02/18/2010

fair enough

[Milhouse901]

03:17 PM on 02/17/2010

Pro life but only for human life....how egotistical!

[Robert Cantor]

03:29 PM on 02/17/2010

u are a vegitarian

[jwoww]

03:08 PM on 02/17/2010

I wonder what his hat looks like. Racoons are not puppies they'd tear your house apart. I'd shoot it too.

[Robert Cantor]

03:31 PM on 02/17/2010

chase it outside?

if your local govt isnt broke call animal control?

ppl blowing off rounds and smearing animals is 1930's hillbilly stuff

not 21st cntry USA

[Iowafarmgal]

10:43 PM on 02/19/2010

There is no "animal control" in the country. We are the "animal control" and we are certainly not hillbillies. Wild animals can be vicious and have no scruples about attacking small children. If you even came close to touching this animal you could have fingers bitten off and it would probably attack your face. If you don't believe me please feel free to try it for yourself!

[JimR]

02:28 PM on 02/17/2010

I suppose all the people on here criticizing King would have tried to give the raccoon a hug, instead?

[Robert Cantor]

03:32 PM on 02/17/2010

thats not a good idea it might have rabbies

[Ann Joyce]

02:22 PM on 02/17/2010

so King lives in an area with a fair amount of wildlife and a raccoon tried to get in his home!?! how unusual....darn wildlife always thinking that thyr can just be wild, it's not like we're destroying or encroaching on their habitat.....

[JimR]

02:29 PM on 02/17/2010

So when will you be moving from your home, to let the wildlife have your space?

[Ann Joyce]

02:31 PM on 02/17/2010

I live in a home surrounded by wildlife, the house was there, we didn't build..

there's something called animal-proofing, takes some thought and time, it's obviously not for everyone.............

[CessnaDriver]

05:05 PM on 02/17/2010

When animals act strangely-like trying to get into homes when they usually try not to engage humans-there is a possibility of rabies.

It's a judgment call on shooting them. The article doesn't say what the caliber of the Desert Eagle was, but it would be like swatting mosquitoes with a sledgehammer.

[joeyc]

02:03 PM on 02/17/2010

LOL! But seriously, gun-lovers are always just itching for an excuse to use their new "toy". They will always offer some shallow pretense like, "That cat was trespassing on my lawn," but you can take that about as seriously as PETA's hyperbole.

[Glocksf21]

02:49 PM on 02/17/2010

I don't think king is a gun lover, I mean come on, how do you love a gun? do your stoke it? rub a little lube on it? I do know he is a supporter of the bill of rights, including the 2nd amendment, but that does not make him a gun lover.

[joeyc]

03:04 PM on 02/17/2010

Sure there are gun-lovers. When you see a guy with a whole cabinet full of guns, it's not like they bought them all for "protection". Plenty of guys are always buying new guns to add to their collection. There's a big market for all the rapid-fire guns that have no use for either protection or hunting. I don't think there's anything wrong with it necessarily, since people love all kinds of different objects, but people who love guns also love to shoot them, and sometimes they don't reach very far for an excuse to do so.