Poaching reports are up across the country, and some of the new cases have a disturbing twist: animals being killed just for the thrill of killing. "Poachers run down deer with cars or snowmobiles, and chase raccoons, then beat them to death with clubs," Jeff DeLong of the Reno Gazette-Journal reports for USA Today. "They also shoot deer, elk and antelope, sometimes removing valuable antlers but often leaving the carcass to rot on the ground."
Scott Talbott, an assistant division chief with Wyoming's Fish and Game Department, describes the trend as "wanton destruction" that goes beyond shooting. "It's thrill killing — people just going out and killing stuff," Talbott told DeLong. "We have seen a significant increase of that in Wyoming. It's disturbing." State wildlife officials in Wisconsin are working with researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and have determined "the thrill killing usually involves youths ages 14 to 23, who gather in groups with the intent of killing as many animals as possible," DeLong writes.
"These are cases where they're just looking for something to do," Chuck Horn of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told DeLong. "It seems like in some of these cases kids are looking for instant gratification, like a video game." DeLong also details reports of the same trend in Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington. (Read more)
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