With a gun...


BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. -- An animal shelter on Bainbridge Island is
seeing more and more animals arriving with gunshot wounds, and the
shelter's director says the disturbing trend needs to stop.

Caring citizens are finding the injured animals and bringing them to
the West Sound Wildlife Shelter. The facility's director, who has seen
so many of the gunshot wounds, said there's no excuse to shoot an
animal without a permit.

Workers at the shelter treat more than 1,000 animals each year. Their
goal is to get the critters back into the wild, but animals are being
dropped off with gunshot wounds.

"I guess people are just more impatient lately. For some reason
they're using a gun to solve all of their problems," said shelter
director Mike Pratt.

Pratt believes people in the area are using guns as a quick solution
for getting rid of animals they consider a nuisance. Last year he
treated more than 50 animals with gun shot wounds, compared to just
one or two in past years.

"These are not mistakes," he said. "These are deliberate, and it needs
to stop."

Pratt said the shooters are using all types of firearms, from pellet
guns to shotguns. And he said the shootings are happening throughout
the region.


That's right folks, you can solve all your problems with a gun. How
many suicides will be facilitated this year with a gun? About 17,000
if I remember correctly. Varmints ain't the only thing we can take
out with a gun.