Oh, I’m sure this has happened to you.
You’re annoyed with the feral cats in your neighborhood that keep overturning your trash bins or pooping on your geraniums. Or you can’t stand the constant croaking of the invasive coqui frogs outside your window. Or you’ve just about lost it on your neighbor whose dogs bark for hours while she’s not at home.
But would you actually take matters in your own hands, grab a baseball bat and bludgeon the animal to death?
That’s what Susan Maloney did in May 2009, when she took a bat and whacked a peacock outside her condominium. She was tired of its constant squawking and considered cooking the peafowl for dinner.
Her outrageous actions didn’t warrant a conviction, though, as a jury on Friday found her not guilty on charges of second-degree cruelty to animals.
Afterward, the 70-year-old Maloney told reporters she felt vindicated by the verdict. She says her other reaction was that “it’s going to be open season on peacocks and it’s probably past time.”
Don’t get me wrong: anything that makes a noise constantly — a peacock, dogs, even an abandoned iPhone with an alarm that wasn’t turned off — can be annoying. But I don’t think I’d go so far as to beat the creature to death.
But what was Maloney supposed to do? Complain to her condo board? (All you condo dwellers know how unproductive that can be.) Call the Hawaiian Humane Society?
It’s a tough call. But the real question is: Is what Maloney did considered animal cruelty? And should we be worried so much about people who kill pests versus those who kill, oh, say, humans? Is life still life? Or has our society become warped in what we deem is wrong?
You tell me.
***
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14 Comments
I grew up in Kahaluu with peacocks and chickens running around right outside my bedroom (they used to bed down in a bush right outside my window). I was/am used to it to the point where I don’t even notice it, even now when I’m back to visit. maybe I have hearing loss (my wife says I have a listening problem, but I don’t think that’s the same thing).
cruelty to animals? nah. it’s no different than varmint hunters on the continent who shoot crows, coyotes groundhogs and other agricultural pests.
@matti2d But Matt, the examples you give are (usually) done in a humane way, where the death is quick and as painless as it can be. What she did was torturous to the bird.
The exception are the wild pid hunters on Oahu who go up into the Tantaluis area and sick a pack of dogs on these pigs only to leave them to die in agony hours later after having the flesh torn from them in the most cruel fashion.
There are humane ways to take care of these problems.
Earplugs. Prozac. Therapy or psychiatric help. Sing. Form a support group (strength in numbers). Adapt. iPod with headphones. Dance. Shoo with assault rifle water gun. Yoga. Move.
it was cruel because it was done in a blind rage against an animal that was doing what it does naturally. Maloney should have a right to peace and quiet but humans are supposed to have some creativity by now. there was more than one way to deal with the problem without a death involved.
if you want to take a bat to noise pollution, beat the bejeezus out of a DD50 with a firecracker exhaust at 3 in the morning.
@turkfontaine Agreed! There were simply more humane ways to deal with it.
Oddly enough, the crime (yes, crime) of her bludgeoning the peacock to death came only a few days after I was riding up the back hill of Koko Crater from Kalama Valley on my bike. During that ride, a peacock was running around in the middle of the road with cars dodging it. I got off of my bike and shooed it back into the the brush off the road.
To hear this crazy woman do exactly the opposite in dealing with a peacock literally a few days later made my blood boil.
it’s all perception.
Growing up in my parents house in the valley, we killed dozens of centipedes, roaches, ants, scorpions, spiders, and geckos every month.
Nobody in history ever shed a tear for an insects’ demise.
Why ??
It’s all perception.
My perception is the lady beating the peacock to death is offensive.
But I’ll never lose any sleep over squishing an ant in my kitchen.
My perception is some animal life deserve more respect and right to life more than others.
I may be in the wrong.
Should it be that way ?
I dunno.
[…] Peacock death: cruel or justified? | Nonstop Honolulu … […]
Actually think I would sell my condo and move to get away. With a myriad of options available she chose a baseball bat? Call the Animal Control folks and get them to handle it. I get a very bad visual when I think of this one. Hope no kids were watching.
Let me be clear… move away from the lady with the bat issue.
Maloney got off easy. Hunters need a licence to kill animals but it’s supposed to be a quick expiration with a single shot or with a bow and arrows and not a slow bludgeoning. The animals are not domesticated and are just doing their own thing. There are other ways to solve an animal control problem.
@harrycovair I agree. There’s an extremely obese Chihuahua named “Penny” that lives next door to my wife and I. It barks CONSTANTLY throughout the night (I can’t understand why, or what it’s barking at….it’s in a high-fenced in area. Only SO much can go on night after night in a back yard). I’d LOVE to find a way for that little mongrel to stop barking, but I’d never crack the thing over the head with a Louisville Slugger.
I just stick to the occasional yell out of the window: “CAN IT, PENNY!” or, my personal favorite, “SHUT YOUR HOLE, PENNY!”
It works for the most part.
@JMattHicksIs Penny inside the house or outside? Being a Chihuahua I have to assume inside the house.
Two non-life-threatening techniques I’ve learned to keep a dog from barking incessantly is:
1. Water with Lemon and atomized in the dog’s face.
2. Fine ground Black Pepper (NOT PEPPER SPRAY!) blown in/near the dog’s face.
Unfortunately only the dog’s owner can do these two unless the dog is near the property line… <Smelling Salts (Ammonium Carbonate)>
@harrycovair Penny is actually outside, one of the few Chihuahua’s I’ve known that are ALWAYS outside. The other was a ferocious one-legged Chihuahua on Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
Hmmm…Penny is on the other wide of a traditional wooden fence…those recipes sound enticing, I may have to go Black Ops and make this happen one night…;)
Thanks for the insight! I had never heard of those two techniques.