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Subscribe to RSSTwo Florida men are accused of using a bow and arrow to kill a family’s 30-pound pet turkey so they could eat it for Thanksgiving.
Joshua W. Anderson, 19, and Jacob H. Provo, 18, are charged with armed burglary, armed trespassing, theft of livestock and animal cruelty.
Santa Rosa County sheriff’s deputies arrested the pair on Monday as they were on their way to butcher the dead bird, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
Tom the turkey was among dozens of animals that Brian and Christa Caponi kept on their six-acre property in Gulf Breeze, a suburb of Pensacola, Fla.
“He was a family pet,” Christa Caponi told the News Journal. “It was like having a normal family dog.”
The bird was missing when Brian Caponi got up early Monday to feed the animals. Thieves left behind a trail of blood and feathers. A security camera on the property captured video of one man stealing the turkey and another running along the fence line.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
According to the arrest report, Provo, who lives near the Caponis, admitted entering the pen and shooting his neighbor’s turkey with a bow and arrow. The pair said that they planned to eat Tom for Thanksgiving, the News Journal reported.
The turkey’s body was found in the back of Provo’s pickup, investigators said.
The Caponis are mourning the loss of Tom, which they described as special among their menagerie of cats, goats, a dog, chickens and roosters.
“He was a family pet,”Christa Caponi told the newspaper. “It was like having a normal family dog.”
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Leave a Comment:
I'm guessing a pet turkey tastes better than a wild one.
"Tom, fetch the dressing, boy."
Why is it cruel to kill the thing but cool to be seen dishing one out at the shelter?
It was cruel to the owners, that's pretty obvious. The original owners of the shelter-served birds sold them for that purpose.
because unlike shelter surved turkeys bought at the store, THIS turkey was someones pet.
Cheetah, it was a pet. It also didn't belong to the culprits, they stole it. Big difference between that and turkeys raised and sold for consumption.
Then the actual killing isn't cruelty to animals. The two clowns did other wrong deeds but every dead animal isn't cruelty - to the animal at least.
I'm with cheetah. Does cruelty to animals really mean cruelty to pets and/or their owners. A family's pet turkey will have the opportunity to develope personality traits that a wild trukey won't. Sure. But does that mean I can trap a rabbit and cut its paws and feet just for the fun of it? We know that's not true. Hunting for food shouldn't be defined as cruelty even if it is your neighbors' pet; that encomposses other crimes. I will surpised if that charge sticks.
Some countries/cultures eat dog, would that make your pet dog, fenced in on your private property fair "game" for some-one else's meal. Right now turkey is really cheap to buy(amazing how it goes from$3.00lb to 59c lb at Thanksgiving).
If they had poor marksmanship with the arrow and the turkey had to slowly painfully bleed to death that would constitute cruelty.
North Florida in the Pan Handle, Florida really should split in two separate states, just like the Carolinas. North Florida is a bastion of ignorance and mental deficiency. Also referred to as lower Alabama. What idiots.
Let's see how this could have turned out, 2 trespasser's, armed with a deadly weapon, arrow knocked and drawn, acting in a menacing manner. 2 to center mass, self defence, end of story, and the smarter animal would still be alive.
The other charges apply but this was not animal cruelty. Unless you can show proof that the perpetrators made the animal suffer or showed pleasure in bringing harm, there intent was not cruel but for the purpose of serving as food.
The manner in which the turkey was killed will qualify as animal cruelty. This was not a wild turkey running around in the forest, it was in someone's fenced in yard. These thieves knew what they were doing and hopefully they will go to jail for this crime. It is not different than killing a dog or a cat with a bow and arrow and the pain and suffering that they cause this family is the worst crime of all. For people who don't have animals or feelings, they can't understand what it is to lose a pet, any pet.
there are a few things being over looked. Did the guys know this turkey was a family pet? if not... as far as animal cruelty goes, the DA can stand on any rung of a 20' ladder, and still have a defence because the owners are claiming it as a pet. i feel the state should have to prove in some case the animal did suffer for a un needed amount of time, and the kind of suffering included if they already dont.
My eulogy:
grant it Tom kept me up most the night gobbling all night wanting to be let in, and as well did the same at anything/one he saw... not to mention chased kids a 1/2 mile down the road on their bikes looking for a fresh nibble of leg, or even a take down, he was still a beloved pet of a special family.
you see Tom was brought up with the family dog, being the lone turkey on the farm at the time. I think it might have been Ben, (the family dog), who taught him most of those traits prior to taking a spray in the face by a skunk he came across on the side of the road after a good chase with Paul, (kid down the road). Seems the skunk sprayed Ben just at the right time in the face, as he was running blind, it just so happen to be in the path of a milk truck that just left the farm. Well, ol Tom had never been the same since. Always turning his head side to side and looking like he was seeing a ghost no matter where he looked, would creep me out a bit, (not to mention the rolling eyes big and glassy), but it was a treat to take him duck hunting, i heard cause he obeyed every command, and was as fast as any dog out there. A treat to see as his wings and neck were stretched out as far as could go, and as fast as his legs could take him on the words "fetch boy!"
i heard one night when ol Tom was a gosling yet, he took a #2 in the old mans slipper... undiscovered of course till rise and shine, with a well turkey dropping coated foot later, (hey, at least it was still warm, so it washed off easier. right?). Even those special memories this family and the folks who knew Tommy (what i always called him), that can only be a treasured memory for this poor devastated family to continue on with as their lives so meager, even more so without Tom, deserve justice. makes me wonder where the people who normally call for the head of such offenders, not to mention pulling every hair out of their body 1 by 1, for revenge, may be lurking.....
Naughty: I don't know what you were attempting with your "eulogy". Tom was never a gosling - that is a young goose. A young turkey is called a chick or a poult. Tom is not the first - or the last - turkey that was raised as a pet. The fact that it was in a pen on his owner's property should have been enough to protect him, regardless of whether he was a pet or not. As a pet, as long as his owners claim he was a pet, they can't prove that he wasn't. For the animal cruelty charge, any animal that was killed on the land that belongs to it's owners usually racks up a cruelty charge. If a wild animal is killed off season or otherwise illegally, there is usually a cruelty charge involved too. In this case, the men were neighbors of the family, so they HAD to know that the bird was a pet. Even if the bird was not a pet, and was meant for the family's holiday table, it was still just as wrong.
Try reading the Florida Statute (FS 828) there is a section that covers a domestic animal (this turkey falls into this category and then this section:
828.12. Cruelty to animals
(1) A person who
unnecessarily overloads, overdrives, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance
or shelter, or unnecessarily mutilates, or kills any animal, or causes the same
to be done, or carries in or upon any vehicle, or otherwise, any animal in a
cruel or inhumane manner, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or
both.
my vet has a pet turkey that rides in his truck to the office. to keep him quiet he plays latino rock music, and the turkey starts bobbing up and down with enjoyment! why would a neighbor KILL a living animal in a fenced in yard? I hope they get a high fine, and about 4-6 months county jail time. I also hope that they are put on two years probation, and not be allowed to own an animal, AND each gets 100 hours of community service! I'D REALLY LIKE TO SHOOT A SMALL ARROW INTO EACH OF THEIR BUTTS....
I've had turkeys. They are as loyal as a dog. But they would roost on my tractor and crap all over it so we killed them and ate them. HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Lol.. I love birds ,(which is why i can not stand cats) i have a 3 tier bird concrete bird fountain outside my living room window a smaller one outside the office window. One thing i have learn watching them is they do crap a lot.
We used to have some peacocks visit us for a while. I do not know where they came from or where they went but the big male loved to crap on my dodge truck. I hated that truck anyways .
That'll teach 'em!
@Retiredcoastguard We had 13, 25# turkeys. You can imagine.
Mary, you must have had more than a couple of newspaper subscriptions too. ;-)
Just to add to invisible girl
Cleaning animal stalls at animal shelters
According to newsviner logic, these people should be skinned, tortured, killed with a bow and arrow, and eaten by the family of the pet turkey because that's what Jesus would do.
That's the same logic , that defines being queer having culture . Yes some of these posts show how little people know.
So according to this logic they should charge anyone who kills a turkey with animal cruelty?
Were the Indians wrong using bow and arrows to kill the Turkeys back in the day??
Maybe Peta should sue the tribes.
Craig, do we need to have a discussion about the difference between someone's pet and a wild animal? Put on your big boy glasses, now, and read for content.
Well Said
Craig, these type of articles are way over your head perhaps you could head on down the the local shelter and have one of the less fortunate read and explain the difference. Maybe a picture or two would help you figure out what is one's property versus free roaming or grown for slaughter.
If you decide to reproduce then we can call PETA, Im sure your significant other would call it cruel and unsual to have to look at you everyday.
Craig-2249226, I'm all against PETA or radical animal protection groups like that. However, killing someone else's pet is destroying someone's property. EVEN if this turkey is NOT a pet, it is still someone else's property. If I had a farm and my neighbor kills my sheep, that's destruction of my property and theft. I hope you can understand this very basic notion of property rights.
Reminds me of the day my neighbor shot my son's pet Vietnamese potbellied pig because he was sure it was a "wild boar". Morons. I used to have to lock up my goats during hunting season so that the mighty ones wouldn't shoot them thinking they were deer. Killing a pet turkey in its pen - what bravery.
Keep the wife inside during hunting season and that wouldn't happen.
One of my ex-husband's friends went hunting, and got a "strange" deer. Seems he got drunk and wandered into the cow pasture. Yep, got himself a Guernsey. Same knucklehead got liquored up, low crawled through a muddy field, and then had the guts to complain about the goose with the big cavity. He'd shot & "killed" a couple decoys. Some men should not be allowed to hold a shotgun - not even for a photo op.
The penalty for the crime should be having to kill every Tom Turkey in Florida for Thanksgiving 2013. With a bow and arrow.
Who are you penalizing, the criminals or the turkey population?
what jerks, just go to the supermarket like the rest of us
too effing lazy to hunt their own wild turkey.
Beavis and butthead live in Florida? Who knew?
Just curious , Did you go to THS or Astronaut back in the 70s ? I agree with your comment a little , but the world is full of nuts. I do not believe fla has a patient on them. I left Titusville in 79 and went back occasionally to visit the folks while they were alive .
Florida can not be too bad . A million yankees that visit and come here to live every year can't be all wrong can they?
This crime is repulsive on a bunch of levels. Coveting thy neighbors turkey? These lazy cheap bastards need hard time working on their neighbors farm, then banish them from the colony!
Judge should sentence them to farm duties for the next year, starting at 20 minutes before sunrise...
I would also sue them for the value of that turkey. at 30lbs he's easily eaten 120lbs of feed.
Meanwhile, in other fuqqing news...
Lazy fools...you can get a turkey for less than 30 cents a pound. Lots of heartless folks on the vine today too.... Wrong is wrong....be nice or be quiet.
Maybe they could have gotten a free Thanksgiving dinner at their local homeless shelter, or other free dinners often given away at this time of year. Or eat something else for Thanksgiving; other people do.
There is simply no reason to kill someone's pet, regardless of what it happens to be. Leaving a trail of blood and feathers just shows that these guys are about as stupid as the average commercial turkey.
I hope these idiots get another pet to eat for Thanksgiving dinner: A pet rock.
I'm betting these guys have about 7 teeth betweeen them. Sounds like the Bumpus's from A Christmas Story.
Also shows another reason they may have had the cruelty charge - they may not have been the best shot on the block and ol' Tom may not have had a quick death.
Two young men that didn't have anything better to do and so they go on someone's private property and kill a family pet. They need their butts beat with a straight razor strap and then throw their butts in jail for a month.
Stand your ground law in effect in Florida. The owner would have been within his rights to shoot these two dead. Think of the benefical gain to the gene pool for eliminating these mouth breathers.
prosecute these a-holes to the fullest extent of the law.
hope the killers have a good thanksgiving. they should get some jail time for that. what were the idiots trying to do save $20.00.
Remind me never to move to Florida. I hear they have residential backyard slaughterhouses. People have had their horses stolen from the fields and butchered on the roadside. Now they steal someone's turkey pet. I understand that turkeys are as intelligent as dogs. We are having tofurky in my family for the holidays. Cruelty to animals is for the Neanderthals.
Cruelty to animals is bazzare. Theft of property is all I can see. That's all it would be if you steal cattle.
Now hunting without a license or hunting out of season I can see that. Hope the cops don't read this. That's 2 more charges they'll face.
It is funny that these guys thought that claiming "we intended to eat the turkey" was a mitigating factor in the crime. So it was ok.. they weren't trying to kill someone's pet. Just trying to eat it.
Well boys, if you are REAL lucky, you might get a cold dry turkey sandwich in jail.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
An eye for an eye. Redneck style!! Turn 'em lose in a pen. Give the family bows and arrows. Have at it...!!! Revenge can be soooo sweet!!!!
So what? Some red-necks stole a turkey. Calling it a pet rather than livestock doesn't make this news, even on thanksgiving.
Can ya say, "seasonal human interest story?" I think ya can.
Wonder if either of them have a pet dog or cat and how much they would enjoy having THAT for thanksgiving. Seriously, I don't know their reason or justification but I have interviewed hundreds of thieves and killers and they all had the same outlook. I wanted it, they had it, I took it. Perhaps there is an animal rescue organization that they can work at for a year or two as community service and also have to face the family. They don't have the empathy that most people have. Here is hoping that they are merely ignorant and not just stupid. You can't fix stupid as the comedian says.
Hopefully the owners got the (now dead) turkey back and made a good meal of it!
Was the turkey wearing a hoodie?
No, but he was known for participating in a local gang that terrorized Chik Filet establishments.