Hazing Animals Doesn't Cure Aggression!
- by: Care2.com
- recipient: U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar
It should be common sense that bullying an animal will not make it more friendly towards humans. Apparently Olympic National Park rangers failed to take logic into an account when deciding how to handle an aggressive park goat.
In hopes of making the goat afraid of humans (and therefore avoid them), the rangers hazed the goat by shooting it with bean bags and throwing rocks at it.
Instead of making the goat shy away from humans, the plan backfired -- it's hatred for man (unsurprisingly) grew and he attacked and killed one of the park's visitors. Following the attack, the goat was killed.
Bullying and hazing an animal is no way to treat aggression and can, as we've learned, make it worse.
Send a message to Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior who oversees national parks, to tell the rangers: Don't give aggressive animals more of a reason to dislike humans.
Dear Secretary Salazar,
Recently, a goat in Olympic National Park who was known to be aggressive attacked and killed a park visitor. According to a park spokeswoman, rangers had previously tried "hazing" the goat -- by shooting it with bean bags and throwing stones at it -- to make it afraid of humans in hopes it would avoid them.
[Your personal comments will be inserted here.]
Needless to say, the rangers plan did not work. Hazing and bullying gives an animal
more of a reason to dislike humans and can fuel aggressive behavior. Please urge national park rangers not to haze park animals and encourage them to treat aggressive animal behavior in a humane manner.
