PETA WANTS UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI FRATERNITY TO BAN USE OF LIVE ANIMALS IN WAKE OF WILDLIFE TORTURE INCIDENT
For Immediate Release:
December 8, 2004
Contact:
Stephanie Boyles 757-622-7382_
Kansas City, Mo. --- This morning, PETA fired off a letter to Kansas City-based Alpha Gamma Rho Grand President Richard S. Carpenter, urging him to immediately amend the fraternity’s bylaws to include a ban on the use of live animals in chapter activities. PETA’s demand follows reports that on November 19, Zachary Famuliner and Adam Thomas, members of the fraternity’s University of Missouri chapter, collected as many as 40 opossums and two raccoons and tossed them into a barrel. According to news reports, officials called to investigate a noise complaint found nearly 30 fraternity brothers drinking and joking as they gathered around the pile of animals, about 20 of whom were dead. The two men were reportedly arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals and possession of wildlife without a permit.
PETA has asked Carpenter to launch an immediate investigation into the alleged violent attacks and to take appropriate disciplinary action against the two alleged perpetrators.
According to news reports, Famuliner was one of two Alpha Gamma Rho members who recently pleaded guilty to poaching four deer near Easley in October last year. PETA points out that allowing malicious and violent acts against animals to go unpunished often leads to repeat offenses and other crimes that involve human victims. The letter urges Carpenter not to make the same mistake as the director of Kappa Sigma Phi, who?despite receiving overwhelming evidence from PETA of two heinous animal abuse incidents that occurred at two different fraternity chapters?failed to address the issue. Seven members of the Davidson College chapter of Kappa Sigma Phi were later arrested and charged with cruelty to animals.
"Mental-health professionals and top law-enforcement officials consider cruelty to animals to be a red flag," says PETA Wildlife Biologist Stephanie Boyles. "If Alpha Gamma Rho officials are serious about preventing future violent attacks, they’ll immediately ban all activities that involve the use of live animals."
For more information please visit HelpingWildlife.com. PETA’s letter to Alpha Gamma Rho Grand President Richard S. Carpenter follows.
December 6, 2004
Richard S. Carpenter, Grand President
National Board of Directors
Alpha Gamma Rho
162 Lakewood Dr.
Hollister, MO 65672
Dear Mr. Carpenter,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a nonprofit organization with more than 800,000 members and supporters dedicated to animal protection. Our office has been bombarded with calls from outraged Boone County residents and students of University of Missouri at Columbia regarding a recent cruelty-to-animals case involving Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity brothers Zachary W. Famuliner and Adam P. Thomas. In what appears to have been an "opossum hunt" contest, the pair allegedly collected as many as 40 opossums and two raccoons on November 19 and tossed them atop one another in a barrel behind the chapter’s 602 S. College Ave. house. Officials called to investigate a noise complaint reportedly arrived to find nearly 30 brothers gathered around the writhing pile, hooting and hollering in what was described as a scene of drunken revelry, before they scattered into the house. A number of animals apparently died during the ordeal. We understand that the suspects were arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals and holding live opossums without a permit.
According to our information, four charges are pending against two Alpha Gamma Rho members?including Zachary W. Famuliner?for spotlighting and killing four deer out of season near Easley in two incidents in late October.
Last year, subsequent to our bringing two cases of animal abuse to the attention of the executive director of Kappa Sigma Phi, seven brothers of the Davidson College chapter were arrested and charged with cruelty to animals for luring a goose away from her family with food and then beating her to death with a golf club. This crime may well have been prevented if Kappa Sigma Phi had seized the opportunity to address this important issue the first time our organization brought a case of animal abuse to its attention. We urge you not to make the same mistake.
Experts in both medical and law-enforcement fields agree as to the importance of taking crimes against animals seriously in order to avert repeat offenses and prevent the desensitization to suffering caused by crimes against animals that inevitably leads to crimes against humans. People who abuse animals rarely do so only once (as is be demonstrated by the above repeat offenses) and almost never stop there. The link between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence is well established.
We ask for your assurance that you will conduct your own inquiry into the alleged behavior of members of this fraternity chapter and?should the suspects be determined to be guilty?that you will by your authority take disciplinary measures against the aforesaid suspects and include in the language of the fraternity’s bylaws a prohibition on the use or abuse of animals.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I can be reached at 757-622-7382?I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Boyles, Wildlife Biologist
Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department
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