For an animal shelter on Bainbridge Island, enough is enough and they are becoming more concerned over the number of animals who are coming into their shelter with gunshot wounds. In a normal year the shelter would see one or two but last year they saw more than 50 and this year is looking to be similar as a crow was brought in Feb. 12, 2013 with a gunshot wound. The trend is disturbing and the shelter's director says the trend needs to stop.
Citizens of the area have been finding the injured animals and taking them to the West Sound Wildlife Shelter. The director at the facility, who has also seen many of the gunshot wounds, has said that there is no excuse to shoot an animal without a permit. Of course these are more than just wild animals that could be victims of attempted poaching.
Staff at the animal shelter treat over 1,000 animals every year with minor injuries or unintentional injuries. Their goal is to heal the animals and get them back into the wild, but animals are being dropped off with gunshot wounds and that is far more serious and using far more resources. Shelter director Mike Pratt said "I guess people are just more impatient lately. For some reason they're using a gun to solve all of their problems." Mike believes that some people in the area are using guns as a quick way to get rid of animals that they consider a nuisance.
Last month Karla Freimuth spent the majority of her time caring for an injured crow she found in her yard. She said "I didn't know the extent of the damage. I thought it was just a fledgling that had hurt his wing flying too much or flew into something and might have broke it or fractured it." Sadly, she brought the injured crow to the shelter yesterday and learned that it had been shot. Mike said that the bird's injuries were so extensive that it had to be put down. Karla said "all life is valuable whether it's a little robin or a chicken or a crow or a coon." Mike added "these animals are living, breathing creatures. They feel pain just like we do.”
If you know someone who is doing please call your local police department and let them know. We cant let this continue.
Want more from this writer?
Follow her on Twitter, join her Facebook fan page, or send her an email with your thoughts or story ideas heather.marseillan@gmail.com
Comments