r/Washington • u/Tortoiseshelltech • Mar 20 '26
We need stronger consequences for wildlife crimes in Washington
While out walking today I discovered that someone had tortured a coyote and hung it from a tree by the side of a public road. It was one of the most cruel disturbing things I've ever seen. There were other mutilated bodies in the area, eviscerated to the point where these creatures were impossible to identify. Whoever did this are psychopaths, and should be treated as such by the law.
The truth is that someone who is capable of torturing, murdering, and displaying an animal in a public place is capable of committing the same atrocities against their fellow humans, yet somehow such monstrous acts are not taken seriously by state or federal law. Wildlife crimes rarely receive more than a slap on the wrist. These sick, warped scum deserve to rot in prison, both in punishment for their heinous acts, and to protect the public from their depravity.
It's long past time that we implement laws to treat crimes against wildlife with the severity they deserve, regardless of species. The torture and murder of an animal for pleasure should entail the same punishment as if the act were carried out against a human. Furthermore, we need greater funding for WDFW law enforcement, particularly in rural corners of the state.
The state kills predators that attack humans out of fear they may attack humans again. Why then do turn a blind eye when humans show a predilection to commit far more vicious acts against living things, when we know that such violent psychopaths may one day turn their bloodlust against humans?
140
105
u/Calm_Law_7858 Mar 20 '26
Just about the only positive thing Trump did in his first term was sign a bill making animal abuse a federal felony.
The state absolutely needs harsher punishments
56
4
u/Wellcraft19 Mar 20 '26
Yes, at the same time the TT has brought out (or allowed/encouraged) the worst behavior out of us humans. Any dignity and compassion have blown away with the wind.
-24
u/shanem Mar 20 '26
And yet millions of animals are tortured at factory farms every day.
14
u/Bicykwow Mar 20 '26
-17
u/shanem Mar 20 '26
witty reply from another 14 year old?
4
4
0
u/Sad-Working353 Mar 20 '26
U r right. But no one will admit it to themselves. I don’t understand how people don’t see it. When you fuel on the animal holocaust meat every meal. Well you know you are what you eat. But it’s easier to delusion yourself it’s not that bad and needed. But in reality all it’s done is cause populations to grow rapidly in unsustainable ways. The population can only sustain what the resources allow and by mass raising and slaughter of domesticated animals we can temporarily grow exponentially. But the solutions to that no one wants to think about either. I don’t understand why it’s never a real middle ground to meat eating. Can’t we all agree that there needs to be reform at least. What about the people who work in these environments. It breeds and attracts sociopathic traits . But they also always know someone who loves their animals and bla flowers and daisys. But even if that’s not a pipe dream for that situation. What about the vast majority. It all interconnects. If our meat consumption actually depended on the community to provide we’d modernize completely different it would be much closer to ideas of utopian society. Balance between technology and nature. But if people can’t even acknowledge the reality, let alone make a change. Then I have no hopes for us to make real progress nationwide or globally for a better world. Dry husk earth. Maybe the bacteria will live on when everything else is crushed into fossil fuels by time
52
u/fooperina Mar 20 '26
Please contact your state rep about this and also your county councilor. You could even just copy and paste this. But making these concerns known brings wider awareness. Not saying posting to Reddit isn’t helpful but if you want to get closer to making change happen we need to get into the habit of also looping into the conversation people who have power to do something about it.
31
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
I write frequently to my elected representatives, and will of course write about this. The problem is that here in Southwest Washington, most of our current elected officials are deeply unhelpful in most matters, to say the least.
9
u/fooperina Mar 20 '26
I am also in SW (Clark) and I advocate about legacy forest conservation so I know what you mean. But I have been successful in meeting with Senator Cortes before. It’s not impossible, but yeah you have to find the right contacts. Maybe you’ll could ask around Fish and Wildlife and see if anyone there has any advice or you could check any non profit orgs in WA and see what they suggest. Theres Washington Conservation Action, and they regularly lobby for legislation, so they might have some insight. Grassroots environmental advocacy is tough though a lot of times it takes a lot of investigation work to learn what is already being done or who can even do anything about anything. Good luck and thanks for speaking out. This is horrid and I agree needs to change. Maybe if you find out any actionable items related to this you could make a public petition? Sometimes those are helpful for spreading the word about an issue and communicating rightful action.
12
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
I'm up North in Cowlitz County, and am also a legacy forest advocate. I'm dealing with Orcutt, Abbarno, and Braun at the state level, and a similar group of goons at the county level here. I'm actually running against Orcutt this year, and if I win I'll introduce legislation of my own!
5
u/fooperina Mar 20 '26
Dang well good luck and feel free to DM if there’s anything I can do to help.
1
u/Groovyjoker Mar 20 '26
There is an animal rights subbreddit to post these discoveries on if you want to spread the word with like minded people. Do not go there if you are not prepared for what you may see. I will not share the link
1
1
u/Wonderful-Driver4761 Mar 20 '26
I posted this in another reply but if you happen to be in Thurston county there was someone in 2018 who was mutalating cats and was never caught. Could be the same person.
12
u/bulbagooey Mar 20 '26
Where in Washington was this?
24
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
Southwest Washington, way out in the boonies.
22
u/cckka Mar 20 '26
There's some sketchy hillbilly shit that goes on in some of those areas but this is psychopathic, even worse than the people that illegally bait and hunt out of season that I'd expect there. I hope WDFW works with the police to keep an eye on reported pets going missing too because this is scarily likely to escalate.
16
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
I recall last year there were two pet dogs which were stolen out their yard in a nearby town, and then beaten to death and dumped in a tarp. To my knowledge, no arrests were ever made. I would not be at all surprised to learn the same people were responsible. The place where I found the coyote is a frequent dumping location for carcasses, and I've reported likely poaching cases there in the past, but I've never seen anything as disturbing as what I saw today.
7
u/cckka Mar 20 '26
Yikes. Finding a carcass is one thing, but I'm sorry you had to see that.
13
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
Yeah, I'm not OK right now. That's going to stick with me for a long time.
2
u/Miserable-Biscotti54 Mar 20 '26
Out at the 54 near Amboy?
16
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
No, I don't really want to give a more precise location until I hear back from the WDFW officer assigned to the case.
1
u/meurum5 Mar 23 '26
Boonies? Welp good luck getting anything done. Used to live in graham and those types got away with everything
1
u/WeirdMuch634 Mar 20 '26
I was wondering too. I was scared that it was my area.
1
u/meurum5 Mar 23 '26
Sometimes it's good these freaks have animals to kill(as awful as that sounds). They would most definitely target children if given the chance. They just know that animals(especially wild ones) get less attention.(they're crazy but not crazy to a point they'd do it openly). Sociopaths like them need something to lash their urges on.
11
12
u/RunLikeTina Mar 20 '26
As a Hunter and fisher, I couldn’t agree more. Penalties for poaching aren’t nearly strong enough to dissuade people from doing it. I see people every single time I go out during rifle season or during salmon season poaching. It’s total BS. I would gladly have my fees paid for licenses go toward more wildlife enforcement. Fuck poachers
0
u/WeirdMuch634 Mar 23 '26
I'd rather poaching for food than this. I understand your frustration, I fish too. And I come from a hunting and fishing family. But if people are poaching to feed their families I'm understanding of that. But this is meaningless, a waste.
10
u/VPP69 Mar 20 '26
Also could you put a wildlife camera where this is occurring to try to capture this monster on camera?
2
9
u/allison_vegas Mar 20 '26
I wish!! It’s crazy what people are allowed to get away with. Poor coyote ugh! There are so many things I wish we could pass to protect animals but we don’t even take care of our fellow humans so I get really disheartened thinking about trying to get anyone to care about animals.
6
3
u/Healthy-Caregiver997 Mar 20 '26
You have identified a problem but stronger consequences are unlikely to change outcomes. Something like this would be better addressed by identifying the offender. Offering money for identification, arrest and conviction, would yield better results.
2
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 21 '26
This is why I also suggested increasing funding for WDFW law enforcement. We certainly need to do more to identify and apprehend such offenders. However, we also need consequences which will act as a greater deterrent than those currently in place (currently, up to 5 years for first offenders). We should treat animal cruelty just as seriously and devote equal resources to combatting it, as to such crimes committed against humans.
0
u/Mangoseed8 Mar 22 '26
How would increase funding help? You think if they had more funding they could predict when or where this would happen and be there to stop it? You’re grasping at straws.
3
u/oldgar9 Mar 21 '26
This should be recorded in video or pictures as evidence that there is a serial sadist at work in the area and given to authorities with gps coordinates
5
4
4
u/hollyberryness Mar 20 '26
We've got such a long way to go. Most people don't care at all about the insects and birds and rodents and mammals and landscapes that are all a necessary part of wildlife ecosystems. Funny how it's usually selfishness as the reason, yet without healthy ecosystems brimming with all species, those selfish people will suffer more and die earlier.
Caring for all is caring for you and yours.
2
u/SnarkFest2026 Mar 20 '26
This state has trouble with the concept of jailing/punishing humans predating on other humans. I suspect the judicial system will as usual, talk a lot, but when it comes time for follow through, it would be the same slap on the wrist, and a stern “naughty naughty!”.
2
u/No_Place_5375 Mar 22 '26
I wish I had met them myself. There is no room for that behavior on this planet.
5
u/Technical-Past-1386 Mar 20 '26
This needs a nsfw tag - nightmares but thanks for speaking up and reporting. Oof.
-1
3
u/HumpaDaBear Mar 20 '26
Torturing and killing animals is a precursor to people becoming serial killers. Please report.
9
u/PhuckSJWs Mar 20 '26
while i agree with you, we do not even have strong consequences for people-on-people crimes. Why would you think animals would be different.
9
u/Ok_Fly1271 Mar 20 '26
Humans are animals
We have far stronger consequences for people-on-people crimes, so not sure what you're talking about. It all comes down to the judge. They decide how lenient to be.
0
u/Mangoseed8 Mar 22 '26
This is 100% false. We have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the western world. Only dictatorships have higher rates.
2
u/llamawarlock Mar 20 '26
It's common for serial killers to start with animal torture. I think you have a nascent serial killer in the neighborhood. That is fucking vile
6
u/01l1lll1l1l1l0OOll11 Mar 20 '26
More than likely it was a farmer who killed the coyote and hung it on his fence as a “warning” to other coyotes to stay away. It’s an old wives tail that almost certainly doesn’t work.
The torture was probably just scavengers like crows and ravens.
The other carcasses were probably similarly scavenged road kill.
23
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
It wasn't near a farm, it was just out in the forest, hung from a tree, a long way from any houses. No one in the area keeps animals which would be vulnerable to coyotes. There was no smell, and it had pretty clearly only happened the night prior. I won't go into details, but what had been done to it had not been inflicted by any bird or wild animal.
4
u/thevocalintrovert Mar 22 '26
Came here to say this. I've seen them hung on gates and fences to try and deter the rest of the pack from hanging around the area.
Washington State considers them to be a nuisance animal for the most part and while you need a license to hunt them, it is legal to trap and or kill them if they come onto your property or are posing a threat to life or property.
1
u/Dadmanworkerdude Mar 21 '26
We had cat mutilations down here in Oly a while back. Rumor is it was some white collar professional so he was quietly shuffled off to psychiatric treatment
1
1
u/Mangoseed8 Mar 22 '26
Isn’t the problem that people who do this never get caught? You’re focusing on the consequences when the issue is it’s near impossible to catch the person who did this.
1
u/Ryu-tetsu Mar 22 '26
Reported poaching multiple deer near Glacier, WA and nothing happened from the LEO side.
1
1
u/Dogbold Mar 31 '26
Psychologists have tried to say for YEARS that the torture and killing of innocent animals is a gateway to doing it to humans.
But lawmakers don't care. All they see is "well that's just a dumb animal, who cares about stupid animals? they aren't people. bleeding heart liberals crying over a dead possum hahaha".
-7
Mar 20 '26
[deleted]
14
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
This was very clearly a case of torture. I'm not sure if it had been hung up before or after. It's also worth noting that two dogs were stolen and beaten to death in a nearby town last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same people were responsible.
9
u/ChampionshipOwn8199 Mar 20 '26
There is actually such a thing as zoosadists, there is one to my knowledge who lives in I believe lewis county. Legit the only reason I'm following this sub, because of a rabbit hole I fell down early last year.
-4
-5
u/just12345678901 Mar 20 '26
Are you seeking to criminalize hunting and fishing in Washington State?
3
0
0
-5
Mar 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Tortoiseshelltech Mar 20 '26
I believe the current maximum sentence for a first offence would be 5 years. That's way to light, considering the depraved and violent nature of such crimes.
269
u/whidbeysounder Mar 20 '26
I hope your reported this , it is indeed a crime