Eagle Scouts, Life Scouts, and Scoutmasters Call On Boy Scouts Association to Stop Teaching Kids to Kill

Action Comes After Florida Troop Leader Bludgeons Two Rabbits to Death in Front of Scouts During Outing

For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After a Boy Scout leader in Navarre, Fla., brought two live rabbits along on an outing, beat them over the head with a stick in front of the scouts, and then cooked and fed the rabbits to the boys, PETA sent a letter to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) asking for a ban on such gratuitously cruel acts. The BSA has been silent on the issue. Now, Eagle Scouts, Life Scouts, current and former Scoutmasters, and other scouts are demanding an answer. On behalf of PETA, dozens of current and former scouts fired off a letter this morning to Wayne Perry, president of the BSA, demanding that the organization adopt a policy against teaching children to kill animals.

“Teaching kids to kill … can contribute to children’s viewing violence and cruelty as acceptable or even ‘fun,’” write the scouts. “The [Boy Scouts of America] should be leading the way in helping children grow into kind and responsible adults, by teaching them that violence is wrong, no matter how different from them the victim appears to be.”

As the scouts point out, Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the first and founding chief scout, said, “A scout is a friend to animals. He should save them, as far as possible, from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily.”

For more information, please visit PETA’s blog.

PETA’s letter to Boy Scouts of America President Wayne Perry follows.

March 17, 2014

Wayne M. Perry
President
Boy Scouts of America
c/o Donna Bergman, Executive Assistant

Dear Mr. Perry:

As current and former Boy Scouts and also troop leaders, we were appalled to learn from our friends at PETA that a scout leader in Florida recently bludgeoned two rabbits to death in front of his troop and then fed them to the children. We are equally outraged by the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) complete lack of action to prevent other animals from enduring the same fate and other scouts from being exposed to similar acts of violence and cruelty.

Killing animals just because we can is entirely contrary to the BSA’s mission “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes.”  It also violates the organization’s founding principles. In Scouting for Boys, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell—the first chief scout of the Boy Scouts Association—said, “A scout is a friend to animals. He should save them, as far as possible, from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily.”

Scouts can and should be taught practical, nonviolent survival techniques, such as how to build shelter, summon help, find water, and forage for edible plants. As Eagle Scout D.L. Bates wrote in a letter to PETA, “I managed to attain the highest levels within the BSA without smashing animals, and I don’t recall this sort of thing being part of the BSA regimen. I would have quit had it been.”

Teaching kids to kill undermines their natural compassion and encourages them to disregard others’ suffering—particularly those who are different from them or who are weaker than they are. It can contribute to children’s viewing violence and cruelty as acceptable or even “fun.” We agree with former Cub Scout and Webelo John Newman, who wrote to PETA: “This is disturbing beyond all definitions of the word disturbing. If I had a son in this troop, I would have removed him immediately.”

In this age of bullying and school shootings, encouraging impressionable young people to hurt any living being is grossly irresponsible. The BSA should be leading the way in helping children grow into kind and responsible adults, by teaching them that violence is wrong, no matter how different from them the victim appears to be.

Until the BSA takes action to protect animals and children, we regret to say that we can no longer feel proud to be associated with this organization. We urge you to update the BSA’s official policy immediately so as to explicitly forbid scout leaders and all adults from teaching children to kill animals. Thank you.

Sincerely,

D.L. Bates, Eagle Scout
Robert Bonanno, former Boy Scout
Jared Cornelia, Eagle Scout
Gabriel Cortez, former Life Scout
Jay C. Davey, former Life Scout
David Dawn, former Boy Scout
Eric Deardorff, former Webelo Scout
Gerald DeJong, Life Scout
Bryce W. Drennan, former Star Scout
Ryan Fabian, former Webelo Scout
Michael Fairbanks, former Life Scout
Nephi Ferguson, former Boy Scout
Douglas Guerriero, former Boy Scout
Brian Hoang, Tiger Cub
James Jerschefske, former Assistant Scoutmaster
Nick Jerschefske, Eagle Scout
Paul Kercheval, former Life Scout
Giehl King, Eagle Scout
J.D. King, former Boy Scout
Chris Lanier, Life Scout
Steve McCann, Scoutmaster
Dana Meadows, Assistant Scoutmaster
Christopher Merrow, former Life Scout
Kenneth Montville, former Boy Scout
Joseph Mueller, Star Scout
John Newman, former Cub Scout and Webelo
Chase Norlin, former Boy Scout
Steve Olson, former Cub Scout and Boy Scout
Chris Pado, former Troop Leader
Neel Parekh, Eagle Scout
Michael Parker, Webelo Scout
Danny Prater, former Life Scout
Michael Reynolds, former Boy Scout
Antonio Rivera, former Second Class Scout
Edward M. Rose, former Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Cub Scout Leader
Michael Schiavoni, former Boy Scout
Justin Seiber, First Class Scout
Tylor Starr, former Boy Scout
Jonny Vasic, former Boy Scout
Alex Weske, former Patrol Leader
Mark Wheeler, former Boy Scout
Mark Wiley, former Boy Scout
Bob Yancey, former Boy Scout
Barry A. Yelen, former Boy Scout
Lawrence Zierse, former Boy Scout