Road kill candy angers animal rights activists

[chickenscratching]

The fruity-flavored Trolli Road Kill Gummi Candy -- in shapes of partly flattened snakes, chickens and squirrels -- fosters cruelty toward animals, according to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"It sends the wrong message to children, that it's OK to harm animals. And that's the wrong message, especially from a so-called wholesome corporation like Kraft," said society spokesman Matthew Stanton.


more: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/25/roadkill.candy.ap/index.html


-----i just get so pissed off about this idea that a candy is capable of telling children that harming animals is a good things to do. i mean, does eating gummi bears mean i endorse and believe and might be led to think that bear killing is acceptable?
besides, if this were true, then everytime we see a negative act on tv or movies by our favorite celebrities, are they endorsing murder, crime, rape, etc?? i dont get it...ITS CANDY YOU MOUSTACHIOS!@

[Stop_the_War]

1. I'm vegan and I say oh c'mon it's just candy...

Besides the only people who would be interested roadkill candy are rednecks.

[medeak]

2. PETA let loose baby birds on freeway

in my town as they were being raised by teenage detention home to be released as adults into wild and may be hunted.

They were all run over and too young to live on their own anyway.

Obviously PETA doesn't study the animals it trys to protect.

[shawcomm]

3. I don't know that it was PETA, but some released minks

dammit, I don't even remember where it was, but the minks ravaged the area, eating all manner of other animals including a bunch of pet cats of people in the area. It was gruesome.

It's awful, but sometimes their actions are not well thought out. But, as for the candy roadkill, it's just sick. :D

[jdj]

11. PETA didn't do that either.

you people kill me.

[shawcomm]

14. That's why I said "I don't know that it was PETA"

because I didn't remember if it was or not. I wouldn't kill you, but those ravenous minks might. :evilgrin:

[RebelOne]

19. It was the ALF, otherwise known as

the Animal Liberation Front.

[jdj]

7. PETA didn't do that and you well know it.

try again.

[medeak]

10. who do you think it was?

The juvenile home was located next to freeway...perhaps I was incorrect saying they released birds on freeway..but it was logical they would run that direction.

[jdj]

21. PETA doesn't do vandalism and illegal animal theft.

They are a 501c3 non-profit organization. The cattleman's assoc. and the fur commission have been trying to get their non-profit status pulled for years and years, and all it would take is one activity like this to destroy their org.

Most likely it was Animal liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, or Earth First. The reason I am including the latter two is because the birds that you mention (chukars, from a post of yours in the archives) are raised for used in canned hunts, where hundreds of them are blown apart by 12 gauge shotgun blasts for so-called "sport", so this was obviously a protest of canned hunting, i.e. that boys home is raising them for dough, and to be killed,which is one hell of a lesson to be teaching disturbed juveniles.

ALF is not organized, and people who do guerilla activities like this simply paint ALF grafitti and claim responsibility for these actions independently.

[medeak]

26. you may be correct in one respect

I recall an organization taking credit for it and would have to archive local newspaper.

As far as the chukars.. they are not part of a canned hunt as you say.

They live in remote rocky areas that are difficult to put it midly to traverse. Chukars do not fly thus unable to scare and shoot...they hide in the rocks.

The boys do not raise them for cash. This is the state boy's home..it's strictly to give them responsibility and only outdoor activity they are allowed to have. It's a wonderful thing they do and the boys were very upset at losing the babies.

[The Stranger]

27. Wow, perfect example of someone completely wrongly accusing PETA of

something it admittedly did not do. The only thing missing were the Right Wing talking points like "PETA PUTS ANIMAL LIFE OVER HUMAN LIFE."

I guess you could go back and edit.

[medeak]

30. Perhaps if PETA didn't make attention ganering out there statements

they wouldn't be lumped with these other groups?

[jdj]

32. so if liberals stopped talking about the immorality of the Iraq war

people wouldn't think we are commies?

That's not gonnna shut me up.

[SOS]

42. PETA? ALF?

Neither are mentioned in the article.
It's New Jersey SPCA.

[The Stranger]

58. Please wake up.

Before it is too late.

[jdj]

31. au contraire, mon ami.

Chukars are a pointing dog’s delight. They covey in large numbers, hold well, and provide great singles and doubles shooting after a covey flush. Hunting these birds with a good pointing dog doubles the sport. I have Toby, a lemon and white English setter . We have hunted together for seven seasons now and we have learned the chukar business through on the job training.
http://www.uplandjournal.com/chukars/

Package includes:
l 15 chukars released per person / day.
l Guide, dogs, and bird cleaning.
l Lunch, beaverages, and snacks.

Guided Quail Hunt $ 325 per person

August 1 - March 31
http://www.mallardith.com/packages.htm

Schedule
(Half Day Hunts, Parties of 2 or more hunters)
Guided Hunt: (half day hunt with provided Guide and Dog)
$105.00 per hunter (includes $25.00 guide fee paid directly to the guide)
Your choice of 4 pheasants or 8 quail or 4 chukars released per hunter.
Unguided Hunt: (half day hunts for hunters using their own dogs)
$80.00 minimum per hunter. Your choice of 3 pheasants or
6 quail or 4 chukars released per hunter.

Combination Hunts: (Half Day)
2 pheasants, 4 quail, and 2 chukars
$ 125.00 per hunter using own dog, $ 140.00 with Guide and Dog.
http://www.winterhavenpreserve.com/

Chukars provide an outstanding challenge for the upland bird hunting enthusiast. These non-native birds were initially introduced in the United States before the turn of the century, but it was the mid-thirties before chukars found their niche in the arid portions of the western U.S. All of the western states have huntable populations, with the exception of New Mexico; Arizona has a relatively small population of these birds in the extreme northern portion of the state. Traditionally, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho are top producing states. Additionally, many hunting clubs and shooting preserves around the country offer released chukars for fee hunting.
http://www.gamebird-alliance.org/chukar.htmlau

These birds are raised for canned hunts on game preserves.

[medeak]

34. thanks for the links

Had no idea such creepy things were going on. In my neck of the woods they barely fly above the sagebrush and are almost impossible to find.

We belong to local chukar foundation and even tho we know the release sites find them impossible to find. Enjoy hearing their calls however echoing on the rocks.

My state would never allow such a thing to go on. Perhaps ranchers can do that sort of thing on private property but unheard of here.

We've all been grossed out by some fellow in Texas that has website to shoot deer on his property. :-(

We started a great big horn foundation and have a thriving herd in the mountains here...went through hell with ranchers to bring them in but finally won fight when a horn was found fossilized in tree trunk

Someone on this thread has a great distaste for me obviously but ironically we both are animals lovers but go about it in different venues.

[chickenscratching]

35. but don't they oppenly support the ALF? n/t

[medeak]

50. yep...documented they donate to ALF

congressional letter:

http://www.amprogress.org/ResearchOpposition/ResearchOpposition.cfm?ID=129&c=18

notice letter cc'd to IRS and FBI (just like a republican eh?)

another site more detail oriented: http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000062.html

[NV Whino]

4. There's a certain amount of sense in this, however convoluted

Hear me out before you flame.

I have known children who wouldn't eat animal crackers or gingerbread people because they didn't want to "kill" them. Reverse the thinking on this--that it's okay to eat and kill these animals. (In this case because they are already roadkill.)

I was not one of those kids. To me they were just cookies. And to me gummy bears are just candy, just as gummy road kill (however gross I might think them) are just candy.

How does one stop this weird mixed message? Well, I never saw anything wrong with plain old (non-anthropomorphic) gumdrops either.

[bleedingheart]

5. I think it is rather funny....can nothing be funny any more???

jeez....

[ET Awful]

6. Mmmmmm. . . . . sweet, sweet candy.

Mmmm Gummi De Milo

[Colorado Blue]

8. I don't think this is funny at all! Sorry! nt

[jdj]

9. it desensitizes kids to animal suffering.

it compartmentalizes suffering and death for children and gives them permission not to care.

It's in extremely poor taste, as well. But since we are a culture of good ol murikan violence and death I can see how people wouldn't recognize that.

[medeak]

12. if you have kids you know they love gross stuff

that obviously was the marketing ploy...not animal killing.

[chickenscratching]

15. ok, wait a sec

i grew up watching rated "R" movies, i play horrifically violent video games, i EAT gummy bears, and i would definitely eat this road kill candy, basically i have been experiencing violence and immoral acts my whole life through the media, yet why am i not screwed in the head? why am i not rampaging and pillaging people and going crazy? because my parents allowed me to make my own decisions because they taught me morals. i am not desensitized to animal slaughter, i am not desensitized to murder, pain and suffering...i am a human being......if we teach our children about "reality" , i think if they eat this candy, they wont think that its ok to murder...etc........why can't we see this as funny! and laugh! its when we take this shit so seriously that things start to get fucked up.
yea, im sure there are people out their that will eat this shit and think that it gives them permission to not care, wellt hat's fine, but i think for the majority of society, gummy bears or whathaveyou, don't have that much depth to go that far, you know>

[jdj]

22. I can't tell you how many dead cats I've seen killed just on the

side of the road, facing the shoulder.

they ran in front of someone's car almost made it across, and the person either swerved to hit them, or refused to swerve out of the way, because they think running over cats is fun. Just like they think dropping bombs on Iraqis is fun. Why promote violence and sociopathic tendencies.

[chickenscratching]

37. argh

so is everythign supposed to be safe? are we supposed to protect everyone from the shit that happens in ourlife? without hate, there could be no love..........and how many cats have you seen killed on the side of the road? i'd like to know. and don't you think the majority of people probably wouldn't go out of their way to kill other things??? the media focuses so much on the negative (and yes i KNOW that there's some really stupid stuff going on out there) but i think the dhali lamma once said that the majority of people in this world are good, and want to be good.

[Maru Kitteh]

45. You sound like a very angry kid

Without hate there would be no love? Bullflowers. Anyone who's ever had a baby or a puppy knows better than that.

Oh yeah, the Dalai Lama was naive also.

[chickenscratching]

47. well...

Say what you will moustachio, but I am very happy. All of the happy moments that i have experienced in my life woulnd't have been so magnicent without the bad things too...and on a logical basis, if you don't have any evil, there cannot be any good, does that not make sense??

[Maru Kitteh]

49. No, it doesn't make sense. It can enhance your appreciation for goodness

But goodness is inherent and usually obvious and exits very well in the total absence of evil. What you speak of is your own ability to appreciate goodness, and only you can change that.

All of this being said, I would have a much bigger problem with candy that portrayed intentional violence rather than accidental violence. Wife Beater candy or Gut the Pig candy would be much more offensive to me. I do agree that we are fast coming into the twin habits of ignoring our children to raise themselves and allowing them to become desensitized to all kinds of violence. For those of you who cry "what about the humans?" I say do a little bit of research about the connection between animal abuse and violent crime. Children are committing murder and multiple murder at younger and younger ages in America. Violence has always been a part of life but we are giving the ancient Romans a good run for the title as far as gratuitous blood-thirst goes.

We slaughter 9 BILLION animals a year to satisfy our obese and malnourished palates at the expense of millions of our fellow humans. We kill children under 18 and the mentally retarded with sanitized state sanctioned murder. We stock our armies with the poor and desperate and send them to kill hundreds of thousands in order to secure our "right" to drive our new SUV, alone, from our toxic wasteful homes to our toxic wasteful workplaces.

It's all very sad sometimes but the world doesn't need more evil, it needs more good, and neither needs the other to exist. Do I think roadkill candy is evil? No. I put it in the category with Nickelodeons cans of slime. It's gross. Gross things make kids giggle. It's why you should never watch a five year old eat anything, gummy worms included.

[chickenscratching]

51. i righteously agree with you

thank you for your input---i hear you loud and clear.

[chickenscratching]

52. i righteously agree with you

thank you for your input---i hear you loud and clear.

[chickenscratching]

53. and...

i think wife beater candy/gut the pig candy would be extremely hilarious. i dont take that stuff seriously, but who knows, maybe i should.
i like it when people don't take stuff seriously, its more fun that way.

we're all one big joke anyway.

i guess i am just a big angry kid!!!!!!! :)

[Pepperbelly]

54. what are you talking about here?

"We kill children under 18 and the mentally retarded with sanitized state sanctioned murder."

Just curious.

[Maru Kitteh]

55. Um, the death penalty.

Children and the mentally retarded are sentanced to death and and executed in this country. Speshuly in Texis, not like them sissies o'er in yurp.

[Pepperbelly]

56. ok ... just curious.

Whew! I thought I was missing something REALLY, REALLY big.

[Maru Kitteh]

57. I always though the state murdering it's own citizens was pretty big

The death certificates read homicide. Women and minorities are still more likely to be executed for the same crime as a white man who gets life or less than life. Why are we killing the mentally disabled? Why are we killing children? I think these are very big questions we've grown accustomed to not asking anymore.

[medeak]

38. where is the cat's owner letting cat run loose?

That's animal cruelty?

Hell, I was flamed here complaining about owls hunting my pets..and was educated re cats running loose and destroying wild bird life.

[Pepperbelly]

17. It's perverse and eccentric.

And amusing. I almost forgot amusing. Quit being so serious. It will stunt your growth. Care for a sedative?

:evilgrin:

[chickenscratching]

20. thank you for saying that, it's definitely time to RELAX! drink? n/t

[jdj]

23. and you are saying you are normal

me and my arsenal are the defenders or liberty.

lets chew on some roadkill candy and kill some furiners.

[Pepperbelly]

28. what the fuck are you talking about?

Geez, you're gonna pop a gasket or something.

I despise the feel of gummie bears in my mouth. I do not like the flavor or the texture but for the love of everything holy, sometimes a cigar is just a smoke!

[jdj]

33. not this time.

why is it you feel that someone stating that something tasteless and obscene comes from a "gasket popping" state.

I don't know how gummy bears came into this, but I have seen the roadkill candy at stores around here, and I live in the south where redneck men love to torture and kill animals for "fun", my neighbor has threatened my parents cats and because they have an easement over our property they literally try to run over my parents cats several times a day. I'm sad that it makes people uncomfortable to point out the link between that and desensitizing kids to animal suffering, but it starts early.

[medeak]

40. I've heard L-Theonine is a great natural tranquilizer

:-)

[chickenscratching]

41. or it starts because you live in the south.

[Pepperbelly]

48. I disagree ... and where I live, roadkill is common.

It is a fact of life.

Animals wander out into traffic and BAM! they are sometimes run over. Perhaps there are individuals sick enough to intentionally run them down although for the most part, I doubt that is true if for no other reason than the expense of repairing an automobile that has been damaged in such an encounter.

And if I viewed everything so seriously, I cannot imagine having any fun whatsoever. I don't know why you were put on this earth but I am certain of my purpose and it isn't breastbeating over something so infantile and silly as a type of candy. And no, eating roadkill candy will no more desensitize someone than eating gingerbread men or chocolate turtles.

[medeak]

43. CLINK!

[chickenscratching]

44. cheers mate

:toast:

[Catchawave]

13. Wait a minute....

..since when have the local SPCA's become "Animal Rights" groups? I'd say they were more of an animal welfare group.

Also, how does this story become a Peta thread?

[chickenscratching]

16. i have no idea....n/t

[jdj]

24. marketing.

viral marketing that is.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

18. SPCA IN LEAGUE WITH PETA & SATAN.

Axis of Evil Plan to Keep Roadkill Candy Out of Mouth of World's Children.

(Secret hint: Channel yer passion.)

[Swamp Rat]

25. What's wrong with eating road kill?

:D

There are a lot WORSE messages being taught to our children, like it's OK to: bomb the fuck out of any country that gets in out way, killing humans in video games is great practice for the real thing, etc.

Anyway, I believe a lot of negative stories about animal rights groups are 'plants' to make them look bad. MSM makes groups like PETA look like terrorists to discredit their cause, which is saving the lives of living creatures... oh wait, that's right. God gave us animals to kill and torture until the Rapture takes us away. :eyes:

[medeak]

36. mayor had a rendering plant to make dog food

and was seen picking up road kill. shudder...always research ingredients...think my dog's food is better than mine!

[CornField]

29. And yet I still can't find a pack of candy cigarettes

What's going on with the world today?

[medeak]

39. I could use one of those about now! n/t

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.