"Desert Eagle 1, Crazy Raccoon 0,"

[Rembrandt]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...wmaker-tweeting-raccoon-kill/?test=latestnews

Iowa Lawmaker Tells PETA Not to Have a Cow Over Raccoon Kill

FOXNews.com

Rep. Steve King didn't back down from a home-invading raccoon and now he's not backing down from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which blasted the Iowa Republican for tweeting about fatally shooting the animal.



Rep. Steve King. , R-Iowa, holds a copy of the health care bill over his head after a rally against the health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. (AP)

Rep. Steve King didn't back down from a home-invading raccoon and now he's not backing down from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which blasted the Iowa Republican for tweeting about fatally shooting the animal.

On Tuesday, the animal welfare group challenged the Iowa Republican to "pick on someone your own size, not a small animal seeking warmth in a blizzard."

"It doesn't give you comfort in your representatives when a member of Congress finds it amusing to boast of shooting a desperately cold animal who is 100 times smaller than he is and whose only misstep was trying to get into a large, warm house," Jaime Zalac, a PETA spokeswoman, said a written statement provided to FoxNews.com.

"I hope he's not on any committees that made decisions regarding cruel and unusual punishment," Zalac added. "Decent people would call animal control for help, not get on Twitter to boast about having a really, really big gun."

Last week, King tweeted that a "Crazy Raccoon chewing & clawing his way into my house" didn't make it out alive.

"Desert Eagle 1, Crazy Raccoon 0," King wrote, revealing the pistol he used to kill the raccoon.

Roll Call newspaper reported that King said he felt he needed to kill the critter because he believed it was rabid and could potentially hurt his family. He also told the newspaper that he appreciates wildlife, saying that he often sees deer, rabbits, squirrels and other animals on his property.

King told Fox News on Tuesday that he'd offer PETA more hospitality than the animal.

"That crazy coon ran up against 'a man's home is his castle' and this man's castle won. But if it had been PETA volunteers outside in the middle of a blizzard, I'd like to think they would have rang the doorbell, instead of trying to claw into the house. And I would have given them shelter for the night and served them bacon and eggs the next morning," he said in a statement.




In a radio interview today, King revealed the Desert Eagle was a 9mm. Here's a podcast in the Congressman's own words...
http://mickelson.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts

 

[RS14]

On Wednesday, the animal welfare group challenged the North Carolina Black Bear to "pick on someone your own size, not a small hiker seeking warmth in a blizzard."

"His only misstep was trying to get into a large, warm den," said a PETA representative.

 

[pikid89]

ill be damned if some crazy racoon thinks he can try to get warm in my house...i got a 10/22 with a butler creek mag that says he dont

 

[JEB]

desert eagle is a bit much for a coon aint it?

 

[lions]

desert eagle is a bit much for a coon aint it?

Apparently not in Iowa.

 

[TexasRifleman]

desert eagle is a bit much for a coon aint it?

Guess sometimes you have to "run what you brung" as they say at the drag strip

 

[rmfnla]

"...animal who is 100 times smaller than he is..."

8 - 10 lb 'coons are pretty common; that's one big politician!

 

[lions]

"...animal who is 100 times smaller than he is..."

Never let facts get in the way of a good story!

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

He's more man that I am - I wouldn't let PETA people stay at my house, and if I did, they certainly wouldn't get breakfast!

 

[doc2rn]

Funny thing is he was gonna serve them "Bacon" n eggs oh the jokes keep on rollin!

 

[WoofersInc]

desert eagle is a bit much for a coon aint it?

They are saying it was a 9mm. Must have been one of the Baby Eagles, not the big boy.

 

[TNboy]

I would have done the same, but I do have more respect for the life of a raccoon than a member of PETA.

 

[HOV]

I don't understand the idea of shooting a critter inside the house. Huge mess, damage to the house.

I don't know the details, but I'm finding it hard to imagine any space considered "inside" in which I'd like the decor to be racoon guts, blood, fur, and a 9mm bullet in the framing, furniture, or somewhere less desirable.

Calling animal control is certainly more humane for all parties, including the well being of the house.

 

[Rembrandt]

From the Sioux City Journal.....


http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/article_07591d82-1064-58d2-aabf-3b8d6b78f953.html

King’s raccoon run-in draws PETA’s scorn

By Bret Hayworth | Posted: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 12:00 am

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, hold a copy of the health care bill on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, during a Republican health care news conference. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

I follow Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King on his Twitter account. A week ago, I read his tweet, pondered it, read it again and moved on. It seemed a raccoon that came on his Kiron property had been killed, but I wasn’t sure how exactly. Did an eagle swoop down on the thing?

King’s tweet: “Mid day, mid blizzard, 15 degrees, Crazy Raccoon chewing and clawing his way into my house. Desert Eagle 1, Crazy Raccoon zero.”

It turns out the four-term Republican congressman indeed shot the animal, as he explained today in a piece by Roll Call titled “King’s parting shot.” King said his wife Marilyn first noticed the animal trying to get into the house days before, and King was concerned the animal was rabid.

He told Roll Call that he was on a Feb. 9 conference call when the raccoon returned.

King grabbed a gun he has dubbed Desert Eagle — “It’s the one I had handy” — and went after the raccoon, which fled. King caught up, fired and killed the creature.

“We can’t have an animal that might be sick, might be rabid, out there,” King said. “That’s just what has to happen when you live out here in the country.”

However, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) criticized King, with spokesman Jaime Zalac saying King should not have dispatched “a small animal seeking warmth in another blizzard.”

 

[EddieNFL]

Calling animal control is certainly more humane for all parties, including the well being of the house.

Is that who does the cleanup?

 

[Rembrandt]

Should have a coon skin cap made (Davey Crocket style) and wear it on capital hill.....that would give PETA something to talk about.

 

[HOV]

I had a friend whose step-brother off'd himself at home, in his room, with a shotgun. My friend had to clean it up.

According to PETA, a racoon is 1/100 the size of a human being, but even with rational ratios I still wouldn't want that mess on my hands. Not when I could take advantage of my tax dollars already spent on animal control professionals. Seriously, shooting up one's home because an outside critter came inside? That's outlandish behavior.

 

[paintballdude902]

i would done the same thing except with my single six

 

[Rembrandt]

...Not when I could take advantage of my tax dollars already spent on animal control professionals. Seriously, shooting up one's home because an outside critter came inside? That's outlandish behavior.

HOV, King doesn't live in the city where there are animal control professionals, he lives in the country.....and the coon wasn't shot in the house, it was dispatched outside.

 

[Hatterasguy]

Damn PETA hippies.

 

[billybobjoe]

Raccoon rabies is a major concern. Here in Iowa I've shot three that I'm pretty sure had rabies. Show these people a coon crippled in the hind end, spitting trying to breath and tell them to nurse him to health. You can't all you can do is give the suffering animal a kind 22 in the head.

 

[jbrown50]

Animal worshippers.

 

[scout26]

Even in built up areas most Animal Control agencies will give the name(s) and number(s) of a trapper or exterminator. They usually only deal with stray dogs and cats. At least that what's the ones here in the Chicago suburbs do.

 

[HOV]

HOV, King doesn't live in the city where there are animal control professionals, he lives in the country.....and the coon wasn't shot in the house, it was dispatched outside.

Roger - I read for some reason the racoon was inside the house. Reading comprehension fail.

Let the record show that I approve of shooting rabid mammals that are damaging one's domecile.

 

[NinjaFeint]

PETA makes it sound like a raccoon is your friend. This wasn't the neighbor's dog that got out of the yard, it was a wild animal.