BROOKVILLE, PA (WTAJ/WBTW) — The Pennsylvania Game Commission is investigating after a video of two kids kicking and abusing a deer has been circulating on Facebook.
News13’s sister station WTAJ is choosing not to include the video due to its graphic nature, but in the video, two kids are seen kicking a deer in the face after shooting it, and stepping on it’s legs and ripping off its antlers, while it was still alive.
The video went viral and Facebook users from all over are saying things like “these young men need to be taught a lesson” and “this is so heartbreaking.”
On Sunday morning, some Facebook users created a petition calling for criminal charges against both teens for “the torturing of innocent wildlife.” As of Sunday night, the petition had about 58,000 supporters.
But some folks in Brookville say it’s hunting season and this is considered normal.
“We’re in redneck Pennsylvania, people go possum stomping, its nothing different than that,” Brookville resident Jordan Mescall said. “It’s wrong yes, but you can’t control other people.”
Another Brookville resident, and employee at a gun shop, Zack Lash, says he’s appalled by what happened in the video.
“Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. I’ve never seen anything like that around here with people that I knew.”
Lash says he knows one of the young men and didn’t think he would do something like this.
Lash is a seasoned hunter and he believes most hunters know to respect the animals they kill. He says if you shoot a deer and it doesn’t die, “shoot it again and put it out of its misery.”
The Pennsylvania Game Commission commented on one of the videos that was posted.
“Thank you for sharing this with us and for your concern for Pennsylvania wildlife,” the Game Commission commented. “We are aware of the incident and we are investigating it.”
Anyone with information related to the video is being asked to call the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Operation Game Thief Hotline at 1-888-PGC-8001 or the Northwest Region Dispatch at 814-432-3187.
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