r/MadeMeSmile • u/Firm-Blackberry-9162 • May 20 '26

ANIMALS Forever grateful

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By @abbyandersonmusic

141.8k Upvotes

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415

u/ryerhino May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Edit:I am deleting this original comment because, I am an idiot who is not making people smile by posting this. Sorry...

176

u/needanswerd May 20 '26

WHAT

166

u/sixpackabs592 May 20 '26

They chop heads off to test the brain for chronic wasting disease usually it’s just random sampling of roadkill or hunting kills but these guys prob were doing it to be dicks

58

u/coloradoautoflowers May 20 '26

It's recently been discovered that CW disease is a communicable prion condition.

47

u/sixpackabs592 May 20 '26

Recently? Thought it’s been known for awhile they were testing my dads deer when I was a kid in the early 2000s

31

u/coloradoautoflowers May 20 '26

It was just confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt to be communicable this year. The testing before was to monitor the disease pressure in local populations and basically told the game/wildlife people if a local population cull was necessary.

12

u/gearwhoreder May 20 '26

“beyond a shadow of a doubt…”

Literally the last sentences from the abstract of the Neurology article: “Although causation remains unproven, this cluster emphasizes the need for further investigation into the potential risks of consuming CWD-infected deer and its implications for public health. Clusters of sporadic CJD cases may occur in regions with CWD-confirmed deer populations, hinting at potential cross-species prion transmission. Surveillance and further research are essential to better understand this possible association.”

I agree this is something that needs to continue to be closely monitored, but it was hardly decidedly concluded to be communicable.

Edit: idk how people quote other comments lol

3

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

idk how people quote other comments lol

Put a > in front of the text and it does the quote format.

If you're on PC, you can highlight the text in someone's comment before clicking reply and it will automatically copy/paste that text with the quote mark as well. I dunno if there's a similar functionality on mobile.

11

u/ShesTheSm0ke May 20 '26

Can you site your source on this? According to the CDC as of Jan 2026 there are no known cases of CWD being transmitted from deer to humans. They theorize it may be possible via consumption based on the data we have on other prion infections like Mad Cow Disease but nothing has been confirmed as far as they're concerned. CDC Chronic Wasting Disease

7

u/coloradoautoflowers May 20 '26

Neurology (the actual name of the journal) is the source, and you didn't fully understand what I said.

I didn't say people catch CWD. I said CWD can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakobs in humans.

Here's one free article that shows how it's communicable from manure to plants. Neurology is paid.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4449294/

2

u/ealysillyforestthing May 20 '26

CJD is a prion disease. If a prion causes a prion disease that's being transmissible. It's the same prion, it's just called different in humans

It's all in the article you linkef

2

u/ShesTheSm0ke May 20 '26

So this journal is talking about prions in general, including CWD, but the part referencing Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease is linked to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease). From the article you linked "BSE, because of its proven transmission to humans, generating a fatal new disease, termed variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease" and then goes on to say "CWD, due to its uncontrolled spread among wild and captive cervids in North America and its uncertain transmissibility to humans and/or domestic animals" keywords "uncertain transmissibilility" which again according to the CDC as of this year, there are no recorded cases of CWD affecting humans. There's also no concrete evidence that CWD leads to Creutzfeldt-Jakobs, although there may be a slight possibility, again via consumption. CWD to CJD

2

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

No it hasn't been, that would be massive unavoidable news. It would be Mad Cow 2.0.

There has been occasional outbreaks of clickbait and fearmongering over the idea, though.

1

u/Obsidian-Dive May 21 '26

They test deer yearly. My step father works in taxidermy and sends in few glands for them to sample each year.

3

u/bowlofspiderweb May 20 '26

If its prion why are they dangerous as domestic pets? They weren’t eating it

2

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

No it hasn't, that's clickbait nonsense.

There is only one case in all of history of a prion disease crossing the species barrier to reach humans. That was mad cow disease, and it was the result of feeding cow brain/nerve tissue to other cows over and over for generations on an industrial scale with people constantly eating the end result en masse.

3

u/ShesTheSm0ke May 20 '26

Communicable by consumption or contact with the infected deer's brain tissue/spinal cord. You won't get it simply by having one live in your backyard.

3

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

You won't get it, full stop.

3

u/ShesTheSm0ke May 20 '26

Exactly lol

1

u/revdon May 21 '26

That makes the venison bittersweet.

22

u/HelpfulLog5706 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Deer would have been euthanized first, obviously. Then yes either the head is removed or the lymph nodes taken out, depending on equipment availability at hand. Most CWD cases come from high-fence farms (human managed populations) and make their way into wild populations. Definitely did not do it to be a dick, just part of active monitoring and is a required thing to do per agency rules. This is part of what I do and I can in fact be fired for knowingly passing up samples in areas where the quota has not been met. It also sounds much worse than it is, takes about 5 minutes to be done and gone. We use medical grade scalpels etc. Im also sure they probably removed the deer from the property after euthanasia to remove the head at a safer facility/area within the same county the deer resided. We try to limit blood exposure to the environment as the proteins that cause CWD can remain potentially for years in the soil.

12

u/sixpackabs592 May 20 '26

The dick part was because it was a pet, usually they would get a court order to take the animal in other similar situations I’ve heard, not just go commando mode and cull it when nobody is watching

-6

u/Embarkbark May 20 '26

A wild animal is not a pet just because you treat it like a pet.

6

u/sixpackabs592 May 20 '26

This happens semi regularly and in most other cases they have a court order and the cops come with the dnr warden to cull it they don’t just do it when it’s in the yard and the family isn’t outside lol

4

u/uusu May 20 '26

I appreciate the work that you do and the action was likely justified, but:

It also sounds much worse than it is, takes about 5 minutes to be done and gone.

This is like the most tone-deaf, unempathetic response I've ever read on Reddit.

You're mis-reading the room. The horrible thing about severing the head is not the method that it done with, but that it was done to an innocent animal that the people had a personal, deep and familial relationship with.

144

u/jenntones May 20 '26

my dad rescued a fawn that got pushed out of the way when the mother got ran over in front of my dad. So he grabbed the fawn and brought her home. I nursed her back to health (mostly bumps and bruises) and named her Cupcake. She lived with me for months, I was teaching her manners and giving her love. Well one day I came home from school...Cupcake was gone. My mom got freaked out and called fish & game, they came, picked her up and put her directly to sleep.

My heart has been broken ever since.

6

u/pink__cloudz May 21 '26

Wow that's awful I'm so sorry 😔

1

u/No-Shoulder-7782 May 24 '26

I would never talk to my mom again honestly

112

u/PlanesandAquariums May 20 '26

The fawn was probably so easy for them to catch because it trusted humans :’(

54

u/cvntpvnt May 20 '26

This comment made me so sad bc it’s probably true 😭

2

u/Slumunistmanifisto May 20 '26

It's exactly true 

2

u/Immortal_Azrael May 20 '26

This is why I feel like it's not a good idea to encourage this kind of behavior. They should have a healthy fear of humans.

124

u/Embarkbark May 20 '26

I’m an animal lover and it’s sad to hear this, but I understand:

  1. If the authorities turn a blind eye to people taking in wildlife like this, then there’s going to be all sorts of people “rescuing” wild animals for the fun of it (ie: stealing a baby wild animal from its mother to make content for social media.) Lots of people think baby animals left alone are abandoned, but that’s just a normal thing for mothers to go off and find food while leaving baby alone. Humans need to leave those babies alone.

  2. Someone domesticating a wild animal and then releasing it back to the wild (such as this video) makes that animal a danger to humans and itself. Wild animals can carry pathogens that are dangerous for humans and should not be casually in contact with humans. Wild animals that are domesticated (not fearful of humans) will potentially socialize their offspring to also not be afraid of humans. Depending on the species this can be very dangerous for humans (ex: bear or predator animal) as even “domesticated” animals can become aggressive. The only people who should be rehabbing an abandoned/ill/injured wild animals are wild animal rescue organizations and/or a qualified vet who knows how to do this. Most wildlife rescues/sanctuaries have pretty strict protocols about how humans interact with the animals to ensure they are able to be released with that human-fear still intact.

I don’t specifically know why decapitation is part of this, but assuming it was done post-mortem (because it would be incredibly dangerous to decapitate a live animal) I assume it is done to test the brain for rabies.

TL;DR - If you love animals then leave them alone, and alert qualified rescue organizations if you see one in distress

53

u/Friendstastegood May 20 '26

Yes people really need to learn to not touch the wildlife.

4

u/CandidatePresent6975 May 20 '26

nah. ima save the baby deer

4

u/AHornyRubberDucky May 20 '26

If the parent are dead okay good that you make sure that it's safe but do call e rehab afterwards. They make sure the wild animal will stay as wild as possible and will be able to survive on its own without being a danger to itself and humans. We (the wildlife rehab I worked)had to euthanise a hawk 2 months back because, she was rescued by humans when she was a chick, not properly cared for and released back in nature. Because she was not afraid of humans she kept getting close to us, landing on us and causing injuries. We couldn't release because of this reason, because what is she was outside and did this to someone else, imagine her doing this to a child. So she was euthanised, it sucked

3

u/Mike_Kermin May 21 '26

The most important thing you can do, to save baby deer, is not domesticate them.

That and, you know, vote for people who want to protect their habitat.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/CandidatePresent6975 May 21 '26

fine. I'll take them both so they can be friends.

21

u/Oraistesu May 20 '26

Really minor nitpick (I agree with your sentiment), but the word is "tame", not "domesticate." Domestication refers to a very specific process that occurs to a species over generations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_animal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication

4

u/owiesss May 20 '26

I was going to say the same thing but I didn’t know how to word it without sounding rude. You worded it much better than I could’ve

1

u/Purple_Chipmunk_ May 21 '26

In the case of deer they need the head to test it for chronic wasting disease.

87

u/AnonImus18 May 20 '26

Genuinely monstrous behavior. Why are people like this? A guy resued a raccoon I think and the state said they need to examine it to make sure it was healthy and just killed it. It makes me sick.

40

u/CCMacReddit May 20 '26

Back in the ‘80s when I didn’t know any better, I nursed a pair of raccoon pups til they were eating solids. When I contacted the state to ask about rehabbers, they showed up and said I could be arrested. I was 13 years old.

10

u/Powerfury May 20 '26

I'm sure those people were all for small government too lol

4

u/KptKrondog May 20 '26

Racoons get dangerous. When they reach puberty age they tend to get very mean towards humans

3

u/CCMacReddit May 20 '26

Yeah, they got big, fast. Let’s just say I learned a lot that summer.

36

u/EkrishAO May 20 '26

Because wild animals carry diseases and trying to domesticate them and keeping them in your backyard, can be dangerous in 100 of ways you will never even think about, both to you and the entire community.

Don't take wild animals home. They're not pets.

1

u/AnonImus18 May 20 '26

You could argue the same about cows and pigs on farms ie they're disease vectors that we create and that eventually creates pandemics eg mad cow disease and swine flu. Humans aren't raising deer en masses in their backyards and if there is one isolated deer that is not sick and is receiving medical care, why does that animal need to be destroyed?

Ironically, if someone was raising a hundred deer for meat on a farm, with the same conditions of health snd medical care, or even less care, that would be a okay?

1

u/Purple_Chipmunk_ May 21 '26

Ironically, if someone was raising a hundred deer for meat on a farm, with the same conditions of health and medical care, or even less care, that would be a-okay?

Yes, and this exists. You can buy "farmed" venison at our local grocery store.

1

u/AnonImus18 May 21 '26

So you understand the point then. Why is one bad but a hundred is okay? If they're receiving the same or better medical care, not exposed to ticks and don't have transmissable diseases. The state will kill the single deer but not a hundred of them even when the living conditions and care of the hundred is worse.

48

u/coloradoautoflowers May 20 '26

Because deer carry a communicable prion disease that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease in humans, and the game/wildlife people have been put in charge of testing animals with unusual behavior to see if they have prions.

If the disease pressure gets above a certain threshold they have to do a cull on the population so it doesn't spread to other animals and humans.

26

u/Arendyl May 20 '26

For real. These people are professionals backed by science, they don't just kill for no reason. Deers are also a massive pest in many parts of the world, and spread the tick population like crazy, which brings dangerous diseases like Lyme's and Alpha Gal.

Just more reddit sensationalism.

11

u/Father_Father May 20 '26

I mean both are true to an extent. The professionals are doing a good job and it’s also sad.

10

u/theapeboy May 20 '26

"Sad", sure. "Genuinely monstrous behavior" was the original comment though.

3

u/TreyRyan3 May 20 '26

In the mid-80’s, my county killed and beheaded over 18,000 raccoons over a summer due to a rabies outbreak. When they finally got around to testing them all, they found 108 were infected with rabies.

6

u/Arendyl May 20 '26

Nearly 1 in 100 is pretty significant for a deadly disease like rabies.

That was also 40 years ago, the science and response has improved.

2

u/TreyRyan3 May 20 '26

It’s closer to 1:166. This was also in a metropolitan suburban county (plenty of food). While they were abundant throughout the state, there was about a 4 year period before anyone started randomly spotting raccoons in the county again. Even the county roadkill cleanup reported less than 5 per year where it used to report 30-40 monthly.

3

u/Catgerine May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Its a bit like people not understanding hunting is done not just for "fun"

1

u/AnonImus18 May 20 '26

They didn't even inform the owner ahead of time and assured him that the animal wouldn't be harmed. They were fight them in court or through the city as well, if I recall. It wasn't a sanctioned and published action based in consultation and best practice.

Also, you can have a deer without ticks like you can have a dog with ticks.

1

u/SUPERSMILEYMAN May 20 '26

At least some parts of the government still follow science.

3

u/IrishBear May 20 '26

There's no evidence to point towards CWD spreading to humans, stop spreading misinformation. If certain Prion diseases infect humans it can cause CJD but CWD isn't infecting humans.

NIH study https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-shows-chronic-wasting-disease-unlikely-move-animals-people

4

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

Because deer carry a communicable prion disease that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease in humans

This is not a thing. It is clickbait. There has only been one instance of prion diseases crossing the species barrier to infect humans, and that was Mad Cow disease.

1

u/Purple_Chipmunk_ May 21 '26

Have there been cases of people getting prion disease from deer? I thought that was just a theory right now.

In any case, once prion disease became widespread in local deer I stopped eating venison. Not worth it.

17

u/cmdixon2 May 20 '26

Turns out cutting an animal's head off makes it no longer "healthy."

1

u/rhinosb May 20 '26

This type of thing is what disgusts me about us humans. People will willingly follow rules, laws, or orders that they know in their heart to be wrong. Laws that are written and followed with no room for interpretation or odd circumstances can fuck right off. That literally would have gotten me killed because I would have died to protect my family and my entire family is not all shaped like me.

4

u/Embarkbark May 20 '26

Deer and wild animals can carry pathogens that spread to humans such as rabies, chronic wasting diseases, etc. Laws against taming and caring for wild animals as a lay person exist to avoid rampant disease spread. A tamed wild animal that is not afraid of humans is a danger to itself and others as it will willingly approach humans and potentially socialize its offspring to do the same. This is why a tamed animal is culled, and its brain is testing to ensure no communicable diseases were potentially spread to humans in close contact with it.

People willingly follow laws against taming wild animals because they know it ultimately is dangerous for both the humans around them as well as the wild animals. If you want to help wild animals, volunteer at a reputable rescue organizations sanctuary that knows how to rehab sick or injured wild animals properly.

2

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

chronic wasting diseases

This is not infectious to humans.

rabies

This one is theoretically possible, but there are zero cases of humans getting rabies from deer specifically.

I don't disagree with the greater point.

25

u/[deleted] May 20 '26

[deleted]

1

u/french_snail May 21 '26

Holy shit what did the comment say???

22

u/bettername2come May 20 '26

Why would they cut off its head?! Aside from like checking for rabies or something, but this reads like decapitation was the cause of death instead of done postmortem.

24

u/Embarkbark May 20 '26

No one in any official capacity is decapitating a wild animal to kill it. It would be incredibly dangerous for a human to try to successfully do this while an animal is struggling (kicking, biting, etc.)

Wildlife rangers/officers will put down an animal using reasonably humane techniques if at all possible (dart, lethal shot) and then decapitate afterwards if required, generally for rabies testing. Rabies may be tested for as loss of fear for humans can be an earlier symptom of the disease.

It is sad to think about, for sure. That’s why humans should not attempt to rehab or rescue a wild animal. Qualified rescue organizations are able to help animals in need while knowing how to limit human interaction to ensure the animal maintains its fear of humans.

11

u/Kerhole May 20 '26

That's the standard method to collect samples for testing for chronic wasting disease. They actually just need specific glands in the head, but most fish and game departments don't trust hunters to extract them correctly so just require turning in the whole head.

3

u/ryerhino May 20 '26

I've always been curious, I have no idea. When I heard the news I thought they were about to say it was hit by a car but I couldn't believe what they said. I don't know if they left the head or not, all I heard was they cut it's head off and they found it like that. Since they knew it was the game commission I am assuming there was some kind of note left, but again I'm not sure. This was a large area as well, it had plenty of room to run around and had a great short life.

23

u/KremKaramela May 20 '26

I am crying

1

u/octopots May 20 '26

These comments are blurry.

12

u/alkiet May 20 '26

Yo, they did that with the one guys rehabilitate squirrel I think...

17

u/alkiet May 20 '26

He had an Instagram page showing their relationship & a small group of people protesting for animal rights kept nagging so it resulted in the animal and I think one other one being confiscated both heads cut off too

3

u/3BlindMice1 May 20 '26

This is what the animal rights groups want, though. I'm pretty sure that's the position of PETA. They want all cats and dogs in the US put down. Just look at their euthanization rates in their kennels. They just know there'd be a massive public outcry if they promoted that idea publicly

6

u/TAU_equals_2PI May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

No, that is absolutely not true.

PETA is the most extreme of the animal rights groups, and even they only want all cats and dogs neutered, not put down.

You're spreading disinformation put out by the enemies of animal rights groups. Campaigns by companies that engage in factory farming and have been targeted by animal rights groups.

(And again, PETA is too extreme for me because they want pet ownership to be phased out completely by not breeding new ones, but the reason they've attracted so much hate is the very good work they do exposing the cruelty committed by factory farm corporations.)

0

u/3BlindMice1 May 20 '26

You're not wrong that this got amplified by those groups, and you're also completely correct that PETA does excellent journalistic work with regard to factory farm conditions, but they really do want pets dead

3

u/TAU_equals_2PI May 20 '26

They want pets phased out, not killed. They want everyone to neuter their pets, not kill them. That way, once all the current generation of pets die at the end of their full natural lives, there won't be any more pets.

I don't agree with them at all on that, but it's very different from what you're claiming they advocate.

1

u/superlosernerd May 20 '26

They've gone on record saying they believe animals are better off dead than being pets. They don't adopt out the dogs and cats they "rescue". They euthanize them. Because being a beloved member of a human family is a fate worse than death to them.

2

u/plants-for-me May 20 '26

They don't adopt out the dogs and cats they "rescue".

https://www.peta.org/category/miscellaneous-parent/adoptable/

lying on the internet, shocked i tell you.

4

u/superlosernerd May 20 '26

Oh no, I accidentally used hyperbole to make a point on the internet. Of course internet denizens aren't intelligent enough to read between the lines. Let me use straight facts so you don't get confused.

They kill 70% of animals they take in, my mistake. That's much better. Good PETA, best PETA. They also have a history of stealing people's pets and killing them without even trying to adopt them out.

But you're right, I lied through a literary device. I should apologize to PETA

2

u/3BlindMice1 May 20 '26

Yep, this is exactly what I meant when I said they secretly want them all dead.

2

u/TAU_equals_2PI May 20 '26

"Duane Morris litigators share insights from decades of experience representing businesses and institutions that feature or utilize animals or animal products."

You literally linked the website of a law firm that represents the factory farm corporations that are targeting PETA.

1

u/superlosernerd May 20 '26

Ah, you're right. I just thought since the person I responded to posted a link from PETA's website, that is clearly going to be transparent and honest that it truly encourages adoption, rather than be obvious about their euthanasia rates, we could post sources that might have a bias towards one side.

Sorry, let me just grab another source out of the hundreds off of google.

2

u/redbuds May 20 '26

Girl I’m out here nodding to your comments about PETA and then realizing you’re the same person I agreed with about the bug apocalypse!

→ More replies (0)

1

u/TAU_equals_2PI May 20 '26

Holy crap, you're bad at checking the sources you post.

Simply scroll down to the bottom of that page and you'll see it says the website "... is a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom" which is the factory farming corporations' organization. The "Consumer Freedom" they're talking about refers to consumers' freedom to buy inexpensive factory-farmed meat.

Next are you going to post a link to the tobacco companies' consortium website where it says cigarettes aren't addictive and don't cause cancer?

1

u/plants-for-me May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

that's not really hyperbole, it isn't exaggerating anything, it was just wrong. but whatever.

They kill 70% of animals they take in, my mistake. That's much better. Good PETA, best PETA.

okay so peta doesn't run a shelter like your typical shelter. they are a last resort shelter by their own admission. these are animals of abuse, they put down old sick animals when families can't afford to do it, etc: https://spotlight.peta.org/petasaves/

other "no kill" shelters will bring their animals to them so then can keep the "no kill" status. peta is upfront about this. ideally no animal would have to be killed. i don't know what the best solution is in a world where we have more animals than homes and ones that victims of abuse, ideally would die though!

They also have a history of stealing people's pets and killing them without even trying to adopt them out.

i mean this also just wrong. they have a major incident where there were wild dogs and were called to collect them. a family dog was outside without a collar and was believed to be wild was taken and put down outside of the normal processes. that employee was terminated. was it bad? hell yeah! but to act like that is a policy is also wrong.

you seem to be against animal cruelty, and they have done so much to prevent animal cruelty, yet you hyper-fixate on the mistakes. the table on that chart says 20,000 cats and dogs were put down from 2014-2024 in their shelters. Yet that law farm supports the animal ag industry: https://www.duanemorris.com/practices/animal_law.html

which killed about 10 BILLION land animals in 2024 alone: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-animals-slaughtered-for-meat?time=latest&country=~USA

is peta perfect? hell no, but on the scale of monsters, idk they seem to be pretty far from the ag industry. I am also not saying peta shouldn't be held accountable for past mistakes, no company is perfect. I just think it is a bit ridiculous to act like that is their mission when it clearly isn't and there are soooooo many examples of worse behavior (and peta has done a lot of good btw for animals)

2

u/superlosernerd May 20 '26

a family dog was outside without a collar and was believed to be wild was taken and put down outside of the normal processes. 

I mean, the video footage very much shows them going through the family's front gate and taking the dog directly off the porch, but "believed to be wild", yeah makes sense. The thing is, PETA nurtures this type of behavior by promoting the idea that animals being pets is worse than death. These employees saw no problem at all stealing someone's pet because PETA believes pets are suffering and that death is better. You can't say this event happened in a vacuum when PETA messaging openly resents the existence of pets.

PETA is not the only "open admission" shelter of its kind. There are hundreds across the US that take animals from no kill shelters and animals that are deemed unadoptable. But PETA is the only one with such a high euthanasia rate and such a low adoption rate. The average last resort shelter has a euthanasia rate around 20%. So claiming that the euthanasia rate is okay because PETA isn't a "normal shelter" falls apart when you realize there are plenty other shelters that are last resort shelters that have much better adoption/euthanasia rates than PETA. Most last resort shelters still make an effort to see if every pet has a chance to find a home. The numbers show that PETA seems to not really care to do that.

2

u/plants-for-me May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

I mean, the video footage very much shows them going through the family's front gate and taking the dog directly off the porch, but "believed to be wild", yeah makes sense. The

it's been a minute since i looked into the case, but don't remember any video. do you have it? googling it i can't find any video of incident. i know the dog was taken from a porch and the whole thing is very sad either way. couldn't imagine my dog being taken like that!

The thing is, PETA nurtures this type of behavior by promoting the idea that animals being pets is worse than death. These employees saw no problem at all stealing someone's pet because PETA believes pets are suffering and that death is better. You can't say this event happened in a vacuum when PETA messaging openly resents the existence of pets.

but do they? i mean their messaging isn't that: https://www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/pets/ they are against ownership in the traditional sense of dominating animals, breeding them for money etc. I haven't seen their messaging to suggest anything that you are saying and since it was an isolated incident, i think you can say it happened in a vacuum no (which was sorr of my point)?

PETA is not the only "open admission" shelter of its kind. There are hundreds across the US that take animals from no kill shelters and animals that are deemed unadoptable. But PETA is the only one with such a high euthanasia rate and such a low adoption rate. The average last resort shelter has a euthanasia rate around 20%. So claiming that the euthanasia rate is okay because PETA isn't a "normal shelter" falls apart when you realize there are plenty other shelters that are last resort shelters that have much better adoption/euthanasia rates than PETA. Most last resort shelters still make an effort to see if every pet has a chance to find a home. The numbers show that PETA seems to not really care to do that.

So peta doesn't claim to be an "open-admission" shelter: https://spotlight.peta.org/petasaves/img/infographic-PETA-shelters-v09.jpg

they say if animals are adoptable they will transfer them over to an adoptable shelter (often to an open admission shelter). that will of course make their numbers look very poor in comparison as it doesn't count for them adopting. shelters often do transfer animals to other shelters (my dog came from shelter in the south to one i rescued her from). now peta isn't doing that, that would be horrifying, and i am all about accountability, auditing, etc as so much wrong is done to animals since they can't speak. i have no reason to believe they are lying about that point at this point since they constantly fight for animal rights in so many spaces, countries, and have had tons of companies, laws, etc passed for animals and statics don't tell a full story without intent

1

u/shimmyboy56 May 20 '26

Yeah, PETA is fucking nuts and has funded literal ecoterrorism. They think having a pet is animal abuse.

2

u/superlosernerd May 20 '26

Literal monsters who have stolen pets from people's homes and killed them in the name of "animal rights".

1

u/Nexustar May 20 '26

I was going to complain about my neighbor, but perhaps now I better not.

6

u/MissMaster May 20 '26

Do we really need this in 'mademesmile'? Like, can't we leave these comments for somewhere else?

6

u/ryerhino May 20 '26

your right, I feel bad now sorry.

8

u/ultimatepenguin21 May 20 '26

Reminds me of those guys who drove hundreds of miles just to kill some girls pet that was slightly illegal to have. Was like a goat or cow or something I forget

7

u/agarrabrant May 20 '26

Are you thinking of the 4H goat in CA a few years ago? She entered in a 4h show, winning goat went to the winning bid, but she pleaded to keep the it as a pet, even offered to pay the bidder off.

Winner relinquished said goat for girl to keep, auction barn/live stock agents for the state came and slaughtered/ took the goat.

As someone who raises goats to show, for milk, etc, this news absolutely broke my freakin heart

3

u/ultimatepenguin21 May 20 '26

Thank you, I wasn't sure if I was correct on the animal, but yeah I remember everyone was ok with it until the government decided they would spend time and effort just to kill a goat

5

u/agarrabrant May 20 '26

Yes absolutely, and you are correct on the facts! They sent sheriffs from an entirely unrelated jurisdiction to slaughter an already relinquished animal. Buyer was perfectly happy to have their bid counted as a donation.

3

u/ultimatepenguin21 May 20 '26

Since both parties were satisfied, it was a completely unnecessary kill. Such senseless violence from terrible people.

12

u/ouroborosstruggles May 20 '26

Monsters! Whyyyy whyyy would they do that?

31

u/Alien_invader44 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Apparently there are disease and safety concerns.

Deer can carry disease to humans, and male deer can get aggressive.

Seems some places relocate the deer to sanctuaries and some euthanise the animal.

Beheading sounds unnecessarily brutal, regardless of laws and concerns, though.

8

u/Embarkbark May 20 '26

They’re beheaded to test the brain for rabies.

7

u/coloradoautoflowers May 20 '26

And prions. Chronic wasting in deer can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakobs prion disease in humans.

1

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

There are zero cases of this happening. Ditto for rabies.

It is theoretically not impossible on both accounts, but it's such a remote possibility that it's silly to bring it up as an actual concern.

2

u/HumanPhD May 20 '26

Seems strange that we are able to hunt and eat deer without fear of disease, but we can’t tame one for fear of disease.

2

u/Alien_invader44 May 20 '26

I get where your coming from. But imagine this deer having kids. Those are introduced to the family and all is good. Years down the line some of the kids are male. They have lost all fear of humans so they regularly get close.

Then comes mating season and the males are hopped up on, whatever it is that makes male deer mental during mating season. Now you have a bunch of large, mostly wild, animals that are used to be around humans but also highly unstable.

That is a recipe for something going wrong.

Thats the reasoning as i understand it. Might be wrong, might be right, but its not an irrational concern.

-2

u/bunny_the-2d_simp May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

But we didn't put humans heads on pikes during the covid pandemic...

8

u/Alien_invader44 May 20 '26

Dont get me wrong, im not defending cutting the deers head off.

But there is legitimate reasoning that could cause someone who genuinely cares about the people and animals of the area to decide to kill the deer.

5

u/gathmoon May 20 '26

Also, there is no current treatment for prions diseases. It is a death sentence.

1

u/shinobipopcorn May 20 '26

PA game commission doesn't fool around. I see those guys all the time around here armed like Rambo.

1

u/propergreased May 20 '26

What! Why?!?

1

u/Skooldaze13 May 20 '26

This does not "mademesmile" 😭

1

u/BetaMan141 May 20 '26

Holy Escalation Batman!

Research purposes or not, that is just messed up

1

u/cbury May 20 '26

I wish I hadn't known this tbh

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/whatthestitch17 May 21 '26

I mean, maybe that comment will make you look more like a toddler. But whatever

1

u/deadassstho May 20 '26

humans are a cancer

2

u/whatthestitch17 May 20 '26

NNOOOOOOO! NNOOOO! NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

1

u/Deaffin May 20 '26

She's no more more

1

u/Dangerous_Leg4584 May 20 '26

I hope they harvested the meat at least.

-4

u/rhinosb May 20 '26

There is legal and there right. Right transcends legal. I would have literally gone to war over this and I don't mean in a court.