Swim With the Angels, Goldie
On May 20th in the wee hours of the morning several boys who belong to the Delta Omega Chi fraternity at the University of California in Santa Cruz allegedly killed a hand-fed, gentle koi named Goldie with a stolen rake then barbequed her and fed her to pledges. It was called a fraternity prank.
The whole community is outraged. Goldie had been a beloved resident of the campus pond since 1995. Professors and students feel violated. In a college that prides itself on being animal rights activists and many of them vegetarians it was a shock.
Goldie was more than a fish. Goldie was a pet. This pet had survived raccoon raids to become the biggest and most loved koi in the pond. Students hand-fed this animal and she was visited often by the kids in the daycare school next door. The students even held a memorial for Goldie by her pond and erected a sign over the pond that said “Goldie, Swim with the Angels”.
There were several college boys involved in the “prank” but only two of them came forward and confessed to the crime. They have been charged with misdemeanor counts of theft and malicious mischief which holds a maximum of a 1-year sentence. I will be surprised if they do any time at all. There is talk of having them expelled from the University — shouldn’t that be without question?
Obviously the community is not outraged enough. It infuriates me to think that such an innocent, gentle animal could be treated in such a manner and all the boys will get as punishment for doing it is a little more than a slap on the hand. This truly is THE REASON we have so many cases of violent crime in our world today. By not punishing we are teaching them that it’s okay to commit terrible acts against innocent lives. The difference between a human life and that of an animal’s is a thin grey line and if a person has the mind to butcher a pet fish (or cat or dog…) what’s to stop him from walking over that line?
MTV was filming the fraternity for their popular reality show “Fraternity Life” during the time the incident happened. A spokesperson with MTV denied any involvement in the incident. They maintain that the incident was not filmed and that it will not be mentioned during the program. I think they should mention it. I think they should film the two boys when (if) they get put behind bars. How more real can it get?
- Peggy
From the Summer 2003 Edition of What's Up, Doc? / © 2003 www.PondDoc.com / All rights Reserved. Reproduction of this article prohibited without prior consent of The Pond Doc.
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