Friday, February 5, 2010
AniMeals president speaks on Bassett suicide
Posted by Alex Sakariassen on Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 4:45 PM
The brutal beating of a kitten at a Missoula residence Sunday night generated widespread and explosive public comment over the past week, with online comment boards openly displaying a lynch-mob mentality directed at the kitten's alleged abuser. Police attempted to arrest Gary Lee Bassett on charges of felony aggravated animal abuse Thursday afternoon, only to have Bassett commit suicide before he could be apprehended. The tragic conclusion to the incident had little to no impact on the tenor of the outcry.
"The comments that have been made to me since it happened were, ‘Justice has been served,’ ‘Glad he did it,’ ‘We don’t have to pay the cost of a trial,’ ‘If he hadn’t done it, somebody else probably would have,'" Karyn Moltzen, founder and president of AniMeals, told the Independent this afternoon. "You can’t believe some of the things people have said about it.”
Moltzen joined the public commentary earlier this week, telling the Missoulian, "I say hang him. You can quote me on that. Hurt him. Sorry." She was hardly alone in her sentiments. A single story in the Missoulian Feb. 4—the same day as Bassett's death—garnered 89 online comments. Most called for "an eye for an eye" or referred to the kitten's abuser as "a scum and a coward." One blog, the Wilderness Sportsman, went so far as to deem the man "Tool of the Week."
“I wanted to hurt the guy," Moltzen said today. "I wanted to hit him. I wanted him to feel pain like that kitten felt pain, and I think everybody wanted him to hurt like that. So if somebody had gone and beaten the living daylights out of him, it wouldn’t have fazed me a bit.”
Moltzen said that opinion hasn't changed in light of Bassett's death. She believes those who commented on the incident and those who gathered at the police blockade yesterday afternoon to witness the arrest were "very, very angry," but doesn't think anyone "wanted him dead. That's pretty severe." Moltzen regrets how the situation finally played out.
“I don’t want to see anyone taking their own life for any reason," Moltzen said. "I had real mixed emotions about the whole thing. ‘Justice has been served’ is not something that came into my mind. It was more shock, and I felt pretty empty, actually. I just think the whole thing all the way around was very unfortunate."
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I think he took the easy way out. I am sorry he had mental problems however that is no excuse to abuse a helpless cat. For those who say it is just a cat, sorry God created her so she is worth life.
meanwhile, all of you dipshits turn up your stereo when the woman next door is being thrown around like a rag doll. everyone cares "so much" but we can't house all of the abused women and children in Missoula. if we're so superior as a species, if we are the protectors, why? simply, why?
I agree that it was terrible and inexcusable to torture a poor little animal, but where is the outcry when sexual predators torture children? We read about this instances in the newspapers every day, but there is not the same response as there was to this crime against an animal. There are hundreds of sexual predators living and thriving among us in Missoula, yet I see stupid parents pushing their little children out the door to "play" and ignoring them for hours, setting them up to be abused by human predators. It happens all the time. Get a clue you ridiculous excuses for parents, especially you a-holes at Family Student Housing. Do you care as much about your children as you do for animals?
There has got to be a better way. A better way to vent anger and frustration then wishing more pain and torture to be in the world. A better way to find and treat those who need help. And a better way to treat all beings, four legged or two. As far as the little kitten, I believe she is in a better place. Be it with God, or if returning to this earth to a far better life.
In the mean time let's not lose the lessons she taught us. Returning love and forgiveness irregardless. Also think of all the attention, and donations, she has focused on those animals that still need good homes and the organizations that care for and support them. And for the abuser, well in his own way he taught us a lesson as well. I only hope this incident also helps those with mental problems get help either on their own or through friends or family thinking, "That could have been ...."
A Shitty thing, all the way around; if only as much attention and money would be thrown at mental health problems before they are a crisis. Ask your self if you have as much empathy for the people next door as you do the kitty.
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