Joseph Andrew Floyd Jr., 20, and Zachary Lloyd Brown, 21, are the poster boys for increasing penalties for animal welfare. The two South Carolina men thought it was uniquely funny to catch a small alligator and then tape themselves pouring beer down its throat. They now face harassment charges though the penalties are minimal.
The men picked up the juvenile alligator after they saw it crossing a road and, after forcing it to drink the beer, filmed it swimming away into a nearby pond. That was viewed as hilariously funny. The pictures were entitled “Gator Shotgun.”
The crime is a mere misdemeanor and jail is unlikely. They also face a maximum fine of $300.
These are clearly dim-witted thugs but there needs to be some meaningful punishment to such manhandling of wild animals. As shown by the little girl dragged into the water by the harbor seal recently (after people ignored the signs not to feed the wild animals), such conduct is dangerous to both animal and human alike.
The animal was later picked up for drunken swamp crawling.
it looks like water.
My point exactly. How do we know it was even beer, 3.2% or regular.
South Carolina boys rescue and aid young alligator by giving it much needed hydration.
This has made me some kinda hungry. I am going to a basket of gator bites and a gator tail po-boy today.
CV Brown – beer is food. You can live on it. I don’t suggest it, but you can. 🙂
Most beer has only a tiny nutritional content. To live on the stuff alone would be close to impossible. You’d probably die of alcohol poisoning first.
In a while Crocodile… 🙂
Poppycock. Animals have no rights. Give the unborn the rights they deserve first, and then we can talk.
Again, setting up a false dichotomy.
Yeah! Life on Earth is far less important than human cells. Such humility.
I was wondering, just how do you tell if your alligator is drunk? Breathalyzer tests seem a bit difficult to administer. And getting an alligator to walk on a straight line, one foot right behind the other, is probably a challenge as well. Or stand on one foot.
HGN (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus) of course.
Always a winner when administered by amateurs.
Roscoe Coltrane – can gators count backwards from 100? or put their finger on their nose with their eyes closed?
Now, I know you can tell when elephants are drunk. They rampage villages. But gators? How much alcohol does it take to get a gator drunk? What is the BAC for a gator?
Regardless of the BAC is impairment an issue?
Was the gator operating the vehicle in a manner that was threatening the safety of others and or himself?
I’m sure those gators who imbibe on golf courses run the risk of a public intoxication charge as well.
Let’s see, Busch makes special edition cans that are camouflaged and hunter orange.
Looks like that hit their demographic on the head.
What’s next?
I see a gator series, limited edition cans coming soon that looks like it has a bite taken out of the can along with special gator skin texture so yahoos like these two can hold on to the can while feeding the little fellas.
At least they weren’t wasting good beer.
Hey now! Busch got me through some difficult times. Such as high school. I suppose that explains a lot.
Right, back when it was a $1.88 a six-pack?
We used to rotate between Busch or favorite boating beverage, Old Drill and Red, White and Blue.
Ah, the good ole days.
Yeah and Iron City was $1.10 a 6.
There are many archaic laws still on the books. Many of these served little to no purpose first written and even less now. This is one of them. Was there any private property damaged? Public property? Was anyone victimized? Was this an endangered species? No to all of the above. I assume those who are pursuing this “prosecution” have absolutely nothing more important to spend tax payers money on. While we think of this foolishness, someone please tell me what is the reason for federal dog fighting laws? Local I understand but why federal. (nationwide ).
There are many archaic laws still on the books. Many of these served little to no purpose first written and even less now. This is one of them. Was there any private property damaged? Public property? Was anyone victimized? Was this an endangered species? No to all of the above. I assume those who are pursuing this “prosecution” have absolutely nothing more important to spend tax payers money on. While we think of this foolishness, someone please tell me what is the reason federal crime? Local i understand but why federal. (nationwide ).
Disgusting humans but it’s interesting that SC is sooooo concerned about animal welfare when human welfare in the form of fair wages, health care and the rest are of sooooo little concern.
Who says you can’t be concerned about both, not one to the detriment of the other? Mistreating animals is linked to mistreating humans. Bet me the meanest policy makers go home and kick the dog and mistreat the wife.
And then, years later, a fully-grown adult alligator enters a disco and starts slamming down Rusty Nails and making numerous attempts to pick up your girlfriend. After getting blind drunk the alligator makes his way to the dance floor where he seriously injures numerous club-goers by bludgeoning them with his cudgel-like tail. And all because these two men gave him a beer when he was a teenager.
I’m not saying that I snorted at this. But I snorted at this.
A thug is someone who robs and injures an elderly lady. Stop butchering the English language by your lack of a thesaurus. Snakes.scorpions, and alligators are not Fido.
Well, maybe they are thoogs then. 😐
I agree with Jack. Get them drunk and release them in the woods!
Something tells me that being drunk and in the woods probably wouldn’t be such a strange experience for these guys.
Someone needs to feed these two dorks to some adult alligators.
A basic motto for being a better person is to not take your pleasure from another’s pain. That applies to people and animals.
We omnivores may kill animals to eat, but there is no excuse for tormenting an animal. Alcohol can be toxic to animals, especially a young animal. Yes, gators can be dangerous, or a nuisance. But there is no reason to torture or bother them. This was likely some juvenile thoughtless prank to “prove their bravery”, manhandling a young predator, combined with a beer game.
In the wild, predators will often absolutely torment their prey, playing all sorts of bloody games with it before eating it, if the mood strikes them. People are supposed to at least try to be better than that.
Karen – I am not sure you can torture a gator.
You’re a hopeless case.
Many a teacher told me the same thing, but I just went on to terrorize more teachers. 😉
Gators can’t be tortured? You never told me you were beyond torture, Paul. 🙂
Oh yea, See ya later alligator!
Brooklin Bridge – I am not beyond torture. I am just not sure gators can be tortured. I am trying to look at the scientific principle behind torture and why one would torture a gator. What information do they have? Can you waterboard them? Electro-shock? The rack? The wheel? The iron maiden? To what end?
Nicely said.
What Karen so well stated.
Yet another fan of Karen’s comment!
Thanks, guys.
Assumption of risk.