AR-News: (AZ, USA) Teenagers Arrested For Shooting Pigeons

[D. Roth]

Teenagers Arrested For Shooting Pigeons

Two teenage boys are facing charges for killing pigeons.

The boys were arrested and booked into juvenile detention for animal 
cruelty when police found them on Irvington near the Santa Cruz River 
with six pigeons that had been shot with pellet guns. One bird's head 
was chopped off with a hatchet.

The Animal Cruelty Task Force says these kinds of crimes can lead to 
more violent offenses.

"It's an easy step after so many years," says Marsh Meyers of the task 
force. "They move from shooting animals with a pellet gun to shooting 
them with a firearm. And then instead of animals they use the firearm to 
shoot your neighbor because he ticked you off."

Authorities say 80 percent of violent criminals have a history of animal 
abuse.

http://www.kold.com/global/story.asp?s=1523038&ClientType=Printable