This is just sickening!!!
 

I had a feeling that this was a fraternity prank when this story broke. And I hate myself for thinking that way, but this fraternity has been in trouble before at USM.


http://www.sunherald.com/2014/10/09/.../99/100/&ihp=1

I am speechless. How does any person think that this is okay?

A scavenger hunt assignment and a 19-year-old who took a bird instead of a picture of a bird.

Sigh. Not a good time to complain about bans on scavenger hunts.

:(

I love flamingos. He should be charged with animal cruelty as well as grand larceny.

I really wish I hadn't read this.

At the risk of sounding stalkerish, I actually looked the guy up on Facebook --it took all I had not to send him a scathing PM. I hope he is charged with everything he can possibly be charged with in this case. Loser.

He's going to regret that for the rest of his life. There aren't enough words to express my (angry) thoughts at this moment.

It was so sad to read about the male flamingo dying as well.

You know-I was actually putting myself into a 19 year old college student's shoes for the past 24 hours. Telling myself that I did stupid stuff when I was younger. Thinking that maybe the dumbass guy didn't mean to hurt the flamingo. But this tweet of his makes me want to see him expelled-at the very least. This idiot makes the entire Greek system look bad. And according to the many posts on USM's Facebook page concerning this incident, scavenger hunts are considered "hazing" in Ms. There is just NO excuse for posting something like this on social media.

https://twitter.com/therealdnottis/s...94246668062720

Reportedly, he has been charged with “grand larceny, two counts of animal cruelty and trespassing”
See

http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/U...278905521.html

Griffins and Quills -- looks like others felt the same as you do!

Edited to add: a few more details are in a slightly more recent report, including,
"a Chilean flamingo is worth $2,000, above the felony threshold of $500"; there's a quote from a Pike HQ officia, too, l that raises the possibility (probability?) that the men involved in the incident will be brought up for expulsion from Pi Kappa Alpha.:

http://kfor.com/2014/10/12/flamingo-...elony-charges/

It's more than "dumbass"ery or stupidity. Same for the USC party decor operation.

I can't think of a dumber set of circumstances. Breaking into the zoo at 1:30 AM? Stealing a wild animal that can't exactly live in your dorm room. Not having second thoughts when you have to fatally injure a second bird while you steal the first. These guys may be 19, but none of these actions can be explained by their ages. Step 1-breaking into the zoo should have been a red flag that things weren't going to end well. They proceeded to the brutal end and deserve having the book thrown at them!

Is it Hazing?
 

Let's ignore what the school does to the chapter and nationals under the rules regarding Scavenger Hunts...

If a GLO chapter gives a Scavenger Hunt list to their pledges and the items *can* reasonably be gotten in a way which doesn't violate the law (thus also including most of the photo scavenger hunts) is it Hazing?

This is "personal" since the one instance of Hazing for my fraternity according to Nuwer is a scavenger hunt where pledges trying to get an item (they could have gotten elsewhere) from a front porch was shot by someone in the house.

(I'll move this to a separate thread if preferred)

The question is, who makes a scavenger hunt HARDER than it has to be?? Usually people do it the other way around. This guy obviously has issues with his need to belong and/or basic lack of intelligence that are not the fault of the fraternity or scavenger hunts.

Scavenger hunts are not illegal in any state (or not that I'm aware of). That's just part of our internal hazing rules. It probably has more to do with something the FIPG came up with than any sort of actual criminal law.

Just remind yourself that there are thousands of our chapters where the members do not haze and obey the law (and even insurance requirements).

I believe it is a result of a certain incident in the mid-90's that made national news.

That all depends on the GLO's definition of hazing. In mine, scavenger hunts are considered hazing and are expressly forbidden as such...in writing, in policy. End of story for us.