Children 8-16 Recruited To Shoot Hogs to Death in Florida

Tell Florida officials to cancel upcoming Children's "Hunt" that is scheduled for October 17 through 24 where children will be "supervised" to hunt and kill wild hogs.

CONTACT

Todd Pressman
Governing Board Chairman
The Southwest Florida Water Management District [SWFWMD]
Online contact information for districts
email
email

Cori Cuttler
Community Affairs Program Manager
The Southwest Florida Water Management District
Tampa Service Office
7601 US Hwy. 301
Tampa, FL 33637-6759
email
phone (813) 985-7481
Florida-only phone (800) 836-0797

Rodney L. Barreto
online email form, (under "select one" select Rodney Barreto)

Chairman, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Chairman/CEO, The Barreto Group, Inc.
Founding Partner, Floridian Partners, LLC
Business address (for both businesses):
235 Catalonia Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134-6704
phone (305) 444-4648
fax (305) 444-1128
Other numbers (305) 596-5167, (305) 275-8123
Barreto was co-chair for finance in the campaign of Florida Governor Charles J. Crist.

Florida Governor Charles J. Crist, Jr.
email

Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp
email

State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
phone (850) 488-7146
fax (850) 487-0801
For individuals with hearing loss or speech disability (850) 922-7795 (TTY)

Florida Department of Children and Families
(to Protect the Vulnerable)
George H. Sheldon, Secretary
1317 Winewood Boulevard
Building 1, Room 202
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0700
e-mail
phone (850) 487-1111
fax (850) 922-2993

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
phone (850) 414-3300
online e-mail form

INFORMATION

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is sponsoring a "hunt" by winning essay contest applicants. The contest was open to children 8-16. There were to be 24 winners, but the contest attracted only 20 applicants.

The applicant featured in the St. Petersburg Times is a 9-year-old girl, a fourth-grader at St. Jude's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Florida, who's mother encouraged her to enter the contest not long after the girl learned to shoot on a camping trip.

The Children's "Hunt" is scheduled for October 17th and October 24th at the Edward W. Chance Reserve - Gilley Creek Tract in the Lake Manatee Lower Watershed southeast of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida.

The guns will be loaded when the children are situated in a blind.

Since the shooting is to take place from a blind, it is probable that bait will be placed in front of the blind where hogs were likely drawn by bait previously in order to habituate them to the site, making the hog's set-up targets. This whole thing is extremely unethical from a number of perspectives. Some would call it psychologically damaging child abuse that may do permanent harm.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!