Man walks free from court after eating baby rat: sample letter

Image | Daily Mail Online

A man accused of animal cruelty has walked free from court after appearing on video eating a live baby rat.

Andy Ray Harris was arrested after chewing and swallowing the tiny, pink rodent during a sickening 45-second clip.

But despite eating the hairless animal and washing it down with a mouthful of beer, Harris, from Tooele, Utah, escaped punishment in court after a judge ruled rats are not a protected species.

The 31-year-old had been charged with aggravated animal abuse in April after police were alerted to the footage which had drawn complaints from horrified internet users.

The disturbing 45-second clip shows the small pink rat squirming on top of a notepad in a pub.

A spectator is then heard goading Harris, by telling him to ‘go on and eat it’.

He picks up the helpless creature, snarls at the camera and pushes it into his mouth before chewing for around five seconds and taking a drink.

Animal rights charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reported it to police after a string of complaints.

Harris told police he ate the rat ‘on a dare from my friends’ but pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated animal abuse.

Prosecutors argued the baby rat deserved protection because it was not wild and was killed in a way that is ‘not an accepted fashion’.

But last week Harris went away from court unpunished after the judge dismissed the charges against him, declaring that rats were not a protected species.

Harris admitted his actions were ‘grotesque’ but was not cruel.

He’d also claimed his actions were not cruel because the rat was going to be eaten by a snake.

He added that ‘for centuries rats have been a scourge to humanity and should have no legal protections’.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Judge Robert Adkins
Tooele County 3rd District Court, 74 S.
100 East, Ste. 14
Tooele, UT, 84074

Phone number to the court is 435-833-800
Fax number is 435-833-8058

Send two free faxes per day from HERE

SAMPLE LETTER | RAT ASSISTANCE & TEACHING SOCIETY

To The Honorable Judge Adkins:

I am writing in protest of your decision to dismiss charges of animal cruelty against Andy Ray Harris because you feel rats are not a protected species. Originally, under the Federal Animal Welfare Act, only rats raised for research were excluded from protection, but an amendment passed in 2002—Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 107-171—removed even that exclusion. Therefore there is not any legal basis for denying a baby rat the same protection afforded a kitten or a puppy. Chewing an animal to death is certainly cruel, and to allow a person to escape any consequences of this action is unconscionable. How is chewing an animal to death any different than beating him to death, cutting him with knives until dead, or dismembering him alive? It doesn’t matter if the baby rat was destined to be eaten by a snake or not, he was chewed to death by Andy Ray Harris.

There are over half a million households in the United States that own pet rats or mice, and we all understand that rats, just like any other pet, have the capacity to feel emotion and suffering. Our country’s laws do not allow people to kill pets in a cruel manner, so why should it allow someone to kill a domestic rat in a cruel manner? I hate to think that your decision in this case has set a precedent that might affect future decisions.

Please reconsider your damaging decision and charge Andy Ray Harris as you are legally obligated under the following Utah statute:

76-9-301 Cruelty to Animals.
(1) A person is guilty of cruelty to animals if the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence:
(d) injures an animal

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent appeal, your attention is appreciated.

Sincerely,

SEE MORE:

• COMPASSION
• ANIMAL WRONGS

Hope this loser goes
Swimming one night
And finds himself
On the menu of
A hungry great white:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson