TURTLE BURNING

A Hawley, Minnesota man doused a large female snapping turtle with gasoline while another man held it still. He ignited a trail behind the turtle, which was engulfed in flames. The men put out the fire and then torched the turtle again. They did an evil dance around the turtle, laughing and yelling “what are you going to do about it,” as the turtle tries to escape.

This dastardly behavior, which demonstrated their personal sense of powerlessness, was captured on video by a third man who shouted encouragement to his friends. The video was posted on the internet and the men (two juveniles and an adult) were arrested. The fate of the turtle is unknown.

The story has aroused the ire and condemnation of viewers and animal rights advocates from around the world. Nearly 1,700 people signed an online petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/635254072) urging Hawley prosecutor Kevin Miller to pursue the most serious penalty for the crime.

You can see the video at: http://www.peta.org/Automation/AlertItem.asp?id=1958

I am sickened by the disconnection of the souls of these men from life around them. They displayed a distorted sense of masculinity.

Masculinity today is disconnection. We raise little boys to be disconnected from others, themselves, and the natural world. We socialize them through emotional injury and violence. We pull them away from their own expressiveness, from their emotions, from sensitivity to others

We created these men—parents, coaches, schools, and male models. We teach young boys a false masculinity based on power and control. We teach them that manhood is sexual, athletic, and material prowess. We model for them that being a man is power, cruelty, and arrogance. We reward boys and men for being this way. Pay attention to the men around you—notice their behavior. What do they model for the young men around them? Don’t many seem primitive?

Often men shame boys when they do not live up to their expectations of them—expectations often born of men's own disappointments in themselves. Just notice male behavior at the athletic fields and arenas. How many men live out their disappointed lives through their sons and ask more of little boys than they could do for themselves?

We send the message that many boys don’t have the “right stuff.” They then learn to live with the “right bluff.” How many men around you live the “right bluff” in life?

We the men and women in the lives of these three young men are responsible. Fathers taught them; mothers kept silent to male emotional violence and disconnection. Coaches and teachers collude in how we raise boys in our society. The workplace rewards disconnection. Many problems we deal with in our families, our workplaces, and in our society are symptoms of our failure to raise little boys to be connected to self, others, and the natural world.

Animal abuse is one step in the cycle of domestic violence and it does not stand-alone. Many studies show a clear connection between animal abuse and other forms of family violence. If there is an animal in a home where child, spousal, or elder abuse occurs, you will often find animal abuse and vice-versa.

Animal abuse should be taken seriously, as it is often an indicator that something else is going on in the home or with the person. Many convicted serial killers have had animal abuse in their background. The infamous Jeffrey Dahmer impaled frogs and cats on sticks as a youngster. Theodore Bundy was linked to graveyards filled with animal bones. More recently, many of the youngsters involved in school shootings have also had histories of animal abuse. Luke Woodham, age 16, who shot his mother and killed two classmates wrote in his journal he he had beat, burned, and tortured the family dog Sparkle to death.

We need a new model for men; a model that encompasses the best of the masculine AND the feminine sides of all men.

Masculinity today should be defined in terms of relationships and the capacity to connect with self, others, and the natural world—to love and to be loved. Success in life would be measured not by how much money you make but by the quality of the relationships you have. What kind of father were you? What kind of husband were you? What kind of brother were you? What kind of friend were you? How did you treat animals?

I hope the three young men in this sad story are punished fully. This is needed to get their attention. Then I hope that, somehow, someone teaches these fractured men how to be human beings that see every living things as an extension of themselves and see the truth that what we do to other living beings, we do to ourselves.


Tom Heuerman, Ph.D. is a former U.S. Secret Service agent, senior executive at the Star Tribune newspaper, and has been a writer, coach, and consultant since 1994.

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