Target: Thomas J. Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture
Goal: Mandate psychological treatment for kids who commit acts of animal cruelty, to protect other animals and people.
It was over a year ago that Buddy the dog was found near death, with an extension cord tied around his neck and covered in burn marks from having been set on fire. The alleged perpetrator of this heinous crime: a 12-year-old Mississippi child. While this would typically be considered a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, children under 12 cannot be charged with a crime or evaluated according to Mississippi state law.
In the wake of much public outrage, officials created Buddy’s, law which went into effect on July 1st of 2022. According to Buddy’s law, any child convicted of torturing animals is required to receive psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Not only will this law protect thousands of animals from abuse, it will also possibly save the lives of many people, as there is a relatively well established link between animal abuse and later acts of violence towards humans.
Sign this petition to demand Buddy’s law be passed on a federal level and hold abusers in all states across the U.S. accountable for their crimes.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Vilsack,
Buddy’s law was recently passed in Mississippi after Buddy, a family dog, was found with an extension cord tied tightly around his neck and covered in burn marks. This terrible crime was allegedly committed by a child who, under the age of 12, couldn’t be charged with a crime or evaluated by the state.
Buddy’s law changes this. According to the law, any child convicted of torturing animals is required to receive psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Not only will this get children the help they need, it will also likely save animals and even other people. The correlation between early childhood acts of animal abuse and later acts of violence towards humans is relatively well-established, and perpetrators of crimes towards animals are typically capable of much more.
We are asking you, Mr. Vilsack, to encourage Buddy’s law to be passed on a federal level as an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: AmazonCARES
The Law should be changed now that kids Do commit unbelievable Crimes. Forget it he’s 12 yrs old. Shame on our Law. Put him in jail he’s treated a animal with total derespect well We should treat him the same. An eye for an eye
I agree 100%. There’s no excuse kid needs to be punished for monstrous actions. No living creature should go through something so horrible. The kid knew what he was doing no excuse. Let’s see if he would like someone to light him up on fire.
Just lock uo the little shit NOW..
I don’t care how old this shit is; string him up and light him on fire. D9 you really think anyone capable of such an atrocity should walk the earth? Can be “rehabilitated”?
A future serial killer
Agreed
YOU READ MY MIND!!
Kid or not, this little bastard needs to die.
Thumbs up to that!!
The bastard need his hands chopped off put him away
Yes I agree it doesn’t matter the age he needs to be punished and and prosecuted to the the full max. Another wards he needs to feel the pain as this innocent animal went through. RIP precious animal. Now back to the 12 yr old NO slap on the wrist but he needs to be punished and die.
Idgaf how old they are, they’re sick and need to be dealt with. Period! Put his sorry ass in a detention center!
This is so heartbreaking & frightening. If this is what he does at the age of 12 what will he do at the age of 16. I don’t know if this boy will be redeemable.
Violence against animals is the precursor to violence against humans, serial killers begin their “careers” on animals. A 12-year old who enjoys sadistically torturing animals is already on the path to murdering humans, it’s probably way too late for (this likely male) kid, and I suspect adults in Mississippi are just saying, “Kids will be kids.” to excuse this malignant behaviour.
The parents and society should be ashamed. As long as we live in a nonvegan world, animals will be considered disposable punching bags and torture’able with no repercussions, just like the trillions of unwilling animals who are violently killed for “food” each year. It’s all related.
YES!! Research shows that when animals are hurt, the abuser will move on to humans!
Thank you, Stacey, for making the connection b/w this and the “legal” killing of animals, and the torture of factory farming.
Exactly. It’s been well established that children who torture & / or kill animals grow up to be serial killers. Examples: Iain Brady (one of the Moors Murderers), Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz (Son Of Sam), Dennis Rader (BTK), Ted Bundy, John Gacy, Albert DeSalvo (Boston Strangler), Peter Kürten (The Düsseldorf Vampire) and SO MANY OTHERS of whom we might not even be aware, or kids like this sick little bastard who are “in the making”!
It would be frowned upon if I said he should be thrown in an adult prison with high risk offenders & let them give him “a taste of his own medicine”!!
… So I’d have him placed in a detention centre with lots of analysis as well as brain scans.
I believe too he does need a really hard lesson to be learned- juvenile is one option
Can he be redeemed ? Hard to know- he is already 12 years old – takes a lot of work of a professional shrink ! Mentally ill?
Some kids are also born evil no matter how well you raise them.
I don’t care how old the person is. The same thing should be done to the 12 at old. These types of things need to stop happening now. We need to be the voice of the animals. No animals should ever be treated like this ever. This is case the parents should be held responsible also.
Sad to say but future serial killer.
Children have to be punished for torturing animals. If you have to lock up this kid forever, that’s fine. Otherwise you turn a psycho loose on society who is going to start torturing and killing people.
Since we can’t hang this evil “child” we should lock him up FOREVER so that he doesn’t start on children!
This sick little punk was 12 years old at the time. The law says under 12. Where were his parents, didn’t they wonder why the dog was burned like this. They are just as sick and need help as well. Animals are NOT just property and until laws change in that regard, this will continue to happen without consequences. This kid needs the same treatment as innocent Buddy. Let him experience what he did.
This little hick from Mississippi needs to be burned alive
I don’t care how old that fucking piece of shit is should do the same thing to him or her
Take the so called kid outside and introduce it to a bullet
Kid or no kid he must be punished for this horrific act against an innocent animal, before this future serial killer graduate to killing humans. If they refuse to punish this sicko, then they should definitely punish his parents. Being a kid does not excuse something so disgusting, because if you’re old enough to do the crime, then you’re old enough to do the time.
The parents of this monster must be punished — for a 12yo to do this, he has not received education and training to have empathy for all life, animals on this earth. Of course the child must receive psychological therapy — but he came from human parents, who didn’t give him any sort of proper up bringing This boy, in torturing this dog animal, his future is torturing human animals. We all know the progression — and being male, he will turn to weaker females to inflict his sickness on. Get him help, and punish the parents, who are “in charge” of their children.
This monster is a serial killer in the making. Keep all animals away from that “child” forever. There are many stories like this this is not something to take lightly.