WHAT A BUNCH OF DIRT BAGS!
 

Bros who ‘tortured’ shark have a history of abusing wildlife

By Joshua Rhett Miller July 28, 2017 | 9:42am | Updated

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net...7c&oe=59F2F825



The brutes who allegedly dragged a shark behind a speedboat
apparently documented other vile stunts with ocean wildlife —
including posing for a picture while pouring beer into
the mouth of a grouper.

“This is one of the evil POS that dragged the shark,” one post
on Facebook read. “His name is Bo Benac. His mother is a
Manatee County commissioner. Look what he and his friend
are doing to this beautiful grouper who was probably 50 years
old. #notfunny”

The post identified the other men seen in the disturbing video
as Nicholas Burns Easterling and Michael Wenzel, who was
investigated in 2015 by state and federal officials after posting
pictures of him gripping pelicans and a gull. It’s unclear if the
other men were part of that investigation, which was closed
by the US Fish and Wildlife Service last January, the Miami
Herald reported.

More than 5,300 people have signed an online petition demanding
that the men be punished for the “sociopathic behavior” they
willingly recorded and shared.

“This sociopathic behavior demands attention and prevention,” the
petition reads. “Many feel that this act of violence is in fact a
criminal act … We also demand that everyone in this video has
their
fishing license revoked permanently.”

Another post on Wenzel’s Instagram page purportedly showed him
shooting a gun at a tarpon in Siesta Key, a video that racked up
more than 5,400 views, according to the Miami Herald. Wenzel’s
profile was no longer active as of Friday.



Neither Wenzel’s father nor Benac’s mother replied to requests
for comment, the Miami Herald reports.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, meanwhile,
declined to confirm the men’s identities in accordance with prior
policy, spokesman Rob Klepper told the newspaper.

The video — which was posted to Instagram on Tuesday after they
emailed it to Capt. Mark Quartiano, a popular local shark hunter —
quickly went viral, garnering comments demanding that the men be prosecuted and lose their fishing licenses.

“This is awful to see and they are laughing at what they’re doing to
the shark,” one comment read.

“Who does this?” another comment read. “Sick f—s.”


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messed up

Florida

Is gaffing and clubbing fish any more humane? Or ripping their gills out? Or eating their pumping hearts in a manly sort of way?

Or hooking them through the nose to use as bait as we pull them around through the water at the end of our fishing line?
Or throwing them alive into a gunny sack or kill bag to die slowly of asphyxiation?

Just curious.


/stones, glass houses

Maybe the grouper asked for a beer. Who knows. I know I would

I asked myself the same question before I seen the video, as I heard dragging a shark behind the boat to kill it before bringing it aboard was a technique.

However the way their dragging the shark seems very unsportsman like and unethical, not the way a true fisherman/hunter would harvest meat. It makes me think they weren't harvesting that shark they were fishing for some attention on social media.

Bait is like rats in the subway....

who cares what you do with them....



sharks, and bigger species... well those hold a little more value....


just a little, but just enough to say that something is not right here....

See? A voice of reason.

For me, it would depend on the kind of beer.

... and I'm gnawing on a cold barbecued chicken thigh as we speak, without too much remorse.

You must be friends with those Florida guys

Nah. I'd be happy to piss on them for my own amusement. But I'm a niceguy, so I probably wouldn't.

This is like asking if shooting and eating a deer is any worse than purposely wounding one, cutting out it's eyeballs and filming it running into trees just for your amusement.

Well said.

Agreed.

This is not a discussion on catch and release vs harvesting fish for food.

Their actions are blatant, malevolent and so disrespectful to the ocean and its creatures.

When our oceans die so do we all, and they ARE dying as we speak. Tight Lin

If your talking about me the mako shark was dead before I ate the heart.
 

In a manly man sort of way.
May karma pay those back who disrespect the ocean :the_finger:

no, no, no, ... I'm not casting aspersions on anyone. You Mitchell, and many others around here are my heroes.

Don't tell him, but jorluivil is too. He's a butt-catcher extraordinaire! (we should print that on t-shirts & coffee mugs)

I'm as guilty of killing fish as anyone. I accept my destiny.

I'm just asking questions, and thinking out loud about moral equivalencies for the Florida bros who I said I'd be happy to piss on for my own amusement.

I just want to be careful about my own karma for the destruction of living creatures that end up on my dinner plate.

----

makobob summed it up nicely:

Coincidentally, I was reading this earlier today:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc...ss-extinction/

Look at the last sentence. Food for thought. 65 million years ago the dinosaurs reigned supreme and ate everything including themselves. Then they pulled the short stick of Nature's Lottery and became compressed into oil & gas to power our pickup trucks and polymers to make kayak plastic. Alas, sh*t happens. Species evolve. Nature always wins. Humanity is probably just another step in this process. Some day we will also be recorded for history in layers of rock, carbonized peat and sediment.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/d...EQEREBERA//9k=http://t07.deviantart.net/aPiabW5uSd...ws-d88ljjx.jpg

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/d...EQEREBERA//9k=

Look at the ark on this baby....
 

It was a floater in SD bay...its going in the wash...it is are duty as responsible fishermen to show the sea respect in all areas.

It's all about respect and class. These douche bags seem to have neither. There's nothing more natural than killing an animal to eat it. You don't need to be an asshole and disrespect the creature in the process. It's not really rocket science. Some people are just low class dirtbags. Too bad these losers often give us all a bad name.

Goliath grouper, protected in Florida
 

The fish looks to be a goliath grouper, protected in Florida, like our black sea bass is protected in California.

Well said.

Sad...
 

If I lived near any of those guys I'd be keeping a close watch on my pets.

It is, and I don't think pouring beer down it's mouth is showing any respect for the fish. They caught it and tortured it to be funny, not a sportsman, more like a couple of spoiled brats.

It's one thing to catch something kill it fast and then eat it. It's another to torture it for a prolonged period of time. I barely remove fish from the water I intend on releasing, kill keepers right away. The last thing we should want as a community is to be associated with this kind of behavior. You think we have problems now with the anti fishing crowd, videos like this will quadruple their size. This douchebag Wenzel touts himself as FWC's most wanted, I hope they get him.