Two New Zealand Teens Douse Three Caged Cats with Glue and Burn Them to Death

Two teenage monsters from Huntly, about an hour south of Auckland, were given light sentences last month for burning to death three caged felines back in April. Wirimu Karena (Left photo), described as a seventeen-year old homeless student, and Sahn Papa (Right photo), an eighteen-year old sawmill worker, poured glue over the defenseless cats and then set them ablaze. The entire incident was captured on video, including the defenseless felines' ear-splitting shrieks of terror and pain. The fire killed one of the cats and authorities polished off the two remaining badly-burned felines.

Karena received only a two-year sentence and Papa a miniscule nine months. They have also been ordered to undergo six months of alcohol and drug counseling after their release. Neither teen has expressed any remorse over the killings; au contraire, they appear to be rather proud of themselves. Moreover, on several occasions during the court proceedings, Karena (See photo below) and Papa showed their contempt for the entire process by giving the finger to onlookers.

As dastardly and as morally inexcusable as this horrific act was, New Zealand society as a whole is also culpable. Like their Australian neighbors to the north, New Zealanders hate cats and exterminate as many of them as they can on the pretext that the felines are decimating the bird and small mammal populations. In this case, the three cats were trapped by animal control in Huntly and would have been exterminated anyway. Moreover, Papa's behavior was motivated in part because he recognized the trap as belonging to an animal control officer whom he suspected of shooting a friend's dog. Now, what is animal control doing going around shooting dogs?

The authorities in New Zealand rant and rave about the actions of morally deprived juveniles while they themselves behave in a far worse manner by exterminating animals en masse and without a scintilla of remorse. As Rousseau said in Emile, a person teaches by example, not by preaching one thing and doing another. Things are the same in the United States. When Bush, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz exterminate Iraqis, Palestinians, and Afghans they are teaching American youths that it is permissible to kill people simply because you do not like them. The same is true for the way in which Bush the Elder and Clinton treated the religious dissenters at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Likewise, when capitalists exploit teenage workers (and everyone else!) they are teaching them that it is okay to swindle workers out of their labor. Ergo, children all over the world are being brought up to believe that the way to get ahead in this world is through violence and economic exploitation of the defenseless, the animals, and the environment.

As shocking as this case is, it is just one of numerous cases of horrific animal abuse and neglect that occur on a regular basis in New Zealand, according to The New Zealand Herald. For example, the corpse of Patsy, a cat belonging to the investigating officer in this case, Sergeant Blair Donaldson, was discovered in two pieces outside the police station shortly before Karena's and Papa's sentencing. No arrests have been made in poor Patsy's murder but Donaldson believes that Karena and Papa will have a rough go of it behind bars. Whatever abuse that they might suffer at the hands of other inmates will pale in comparison however to what they did to those three helpless cats. More to the point, they should not be allowed out of jail under any circumstances.

Just a day or so ago a female German hitchhiker was stabbed to death in New Zealand and so the violence continues. From top to bottom, New Zealand appears to be a very sick society.

Photos: The New Zealand Herald and the Waikato Times.