by Ben Hope
A facebook page called ’the great NZ lock up mouse hunt” showing cruelty inflicted on rats and mice has been described as “deeply disturbing and sadistic” by Dr Lynley Tulloch, a social scientist University of South Pacific.
The Facebook page was started by a New Zealand hunter, as the lockdown surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic was implemented and currently has over 25,000 members.
It calls upon people to hunt mice and rats, taking videos and photos of their catch, measuring their worth by size akin to a ’trophy stag’. Prizes are awarded in categories of children (2-10 years), youth (12-16 years) and adults.
The person who set up the Facebook page said “it was all very funny”.
But Lynley Tulloch found it far from amusing and instead “all very, very disturbing.”
Her disgust was echoed by a number of members of the Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust.
“A brainless few can stuff it up for the ethical hunter,” said Lewis Hore of Oamaru.
“There is something severely wrong with both the person and 27,408 Facebook members who think this behaviour is both acceptable and entertaining,” said Laurie Collins of the West Coast. “They’re not hunters.”
Mentally Sick
Tony Orman of Marlborough described the facebook page as “mentally sick”
“What is particularly shocking is that children with young impressionable minds, are being encouraged to get into this violent, mindless culture of animal cruelty and for laughs,” he added.
The Facebook page and associated group showed “hunters” eager to boast over killing tiny mice and rats, causing as much misery as possible and then laughing at the victims as they posed by the rodents’ bodies.
“It is serial killer type mentality,” said Lynley Tulloch..
The mice and rats are also posed with children’s toys such as lego, barbie cars, ken dolls, and remote-control vehicles. There are videos with tiny dead mice dangling from threads tied to hovering toy helicopters.
“It is creepy, as ridiculous as it is sadistic,” said Tony Orman.
Lynley Tulloch said the sadistic Facebook page was reminiscent of a number of primary school possum hunts where dead possums were dressed up and used for carnival fun by children.
Spit Roast
The latest Facebook page showed a rat tied over a miniature spit roast, its decapitated head lying gruesomely on the ground nearby.
There were other instances of animal cruelty on the Mousehunt Facebook page and group. One harrowing video was of a rat cowering in the corner of a garage. The person taking the video had a piece of two by four in his hand and bludgeoned the rat, not killing it outright, leaving the animal writhing and squealing in pain. He is egged on by fellow group members shouting “Nice shot bro! Pole axed the bastard!”.
Lynley Tulloch said irrational hatred towards these animals, was disconcerting for society.
“Scroll deep enough into this murky underbelly of grownups and their children amusing themselves abusing animals and playing with their dead corpses and you start to lose faith in humanity,” she said.
Covid-19 Link
The danger was how hideous acts of cruelty became normalised and accepted. Smashing a piece of wood down onto the head of a living sentient creature, videoing it and enjoying the suffering is reminiscent of how a mob acted during totality terror regimes she said.
“Surely, the mass murder of animals by these so-called hunters reflects this? The pseudo hunters are not simply killing animals out of necessity – they enjoy it. They display a release of sorts, the pent-up anger and an outpouring of hatred and complete lack of empathy for the animals concerned is sickening”.
“Messing with the bodies of dead animals is how humans got themselves into this Covid-19 mess. It is not only cruel, but socially irresponsible to foster and sanction this kind of behavior through Facebook. It does not mean we should turn a blind eye to deliberate animal cruelty.,” said Lynley Tulloch.
