There has been some sick stuff on this website...but none as
sick as this.
THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Simi Valley, Calif — Actor Mickey Rooney joined animal
rights activists and public officials this week in touting
federal legislation that would outlaw "crush" videos, which
depict small animals being killed by scantily clad women.
A bill by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Oxnard, would provide a
five-year prison sentence for the distributors of crush videos,
shich depict a a little-known fetish that involves killing an
animal on-screen for the sexual gratification of the viewer.
"What are we going to hand down to our children?" asked
Rooney, who is active in animal-rights causes. "Are we going
to hand down crush videos? It's despicable."
Investigators for Ventura County Distric Attorney Michael
Bradbury said there are thousands of the videotapes selling for
$60 to $100 each, in circulation around the world on hundred of
Internet sites.
At a press conference at the east Ventura County courthouse,
officials played several clips from the videos showing insects,
kittens, guinea pigs and mice being crushed by women in bare
feet or stilletto heels. The tapes' audio tracks enhanced the
sounds.
Organizers said they want to expose the million dollar
industry because viewers who find the videotapes thrilling
might feel a desire to harm larger animals or even humas for a
bigger thrill.
"It's the torturing of animals that we find the most
offensive," said Beverlee McGrath of Oxnard, Calif., a
representative of the Doris Day Animal League. "We wear
animals. We eat animals. We experiment on them. Do we have
to torture and kill them for entertainment?"
The New York chapter of the U.S. Humane Society and the
Animal Defense League in Oregon turned videotapes over to
Bradbury's investigators in May 1998.
Members of the groups said they bought the tapes over the
Internet from a company called Steponit, which rented a mail
drop box in Burbank and was traced to a man in Thousand Oaks,
40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, whom officials refused to
identify.
District attorney's and sheriff's investigators from Ventura
County tracked down three Southern California producers fo
crush videos: Steponit. Squish Productions, and Getsmart.
Deputy District Attorney Tom Connors said it is difficult to
make arrests. Authorities must prove that the image were
filmed within three years because of the statute of limitations
on prosecuting cruelty to animals.
In May, Los Angeles County authorities arrested Gary
Thomason of Long Beach, owner of Getsmart, on suspicion of
cruelty to animals. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for
Thursday in West Covina for Thomason and a co-defendant Diane
Aileen Chaffin, on three felony counts of turturing, maiming,
and killing mice, including newborn mice, and rats.
They are accused of making a video in which the woman
stomped rodents to death with high-heeled shoes. Chaffin is
jailed in lieu of $45,000 bail. Thomason is free.
Connors said investigators are compiling a case against
Steponit in hope of opening up a grand jury investigation.
Gallegly said his bill is aimed at the distributors to
attack the industry at the money source.
"We clearly drafted it to make sure that it doesn't get
involved in violating First Amendmant rights for freedom of
speech," he said. "We don't want these perpetrators to use
(the Contitution_ as a right to perpetuate this action."
Just as there is no constitutional right to tape and sell
child pornography, ther is no right to tape and sell videos of
cruelty to animals, he said.
