Boy kills lizards

Boy, 7, bludgeoned lizards in cruelty spree | The Australian

Security camera footage shows every move of the 35-minute rampage. One CCTV image shows a big smile on his face as he watches the saltwater croc attack a northern blue tongue lizard at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre about 8am on Wednesday.

At 8am in the morning you'd have to wonder where his head was at. Did he get up and think...oh yes, I'll go and feed lizards to a crocodile and then kill a few more? There has been outrage about this because he ought to have been in his parents' care and he ought to have been eating breakfast or watching cartoons on tele. So what do you do as a parent with a child like this? The outrage is over the needless death of our animals and then some of them were precious, very special and the animal keepers had looked after them and tended them. Their hearts must be broken because one was 20 and cannot be replaced. Outrage is natural but it is not going to resolve anything and the wholesale massacre of our reptiles is done. Why would you get up and want to feed crocodiles and want to kill lizards? This boy obviously is very ill and the first thing he needs is some expert care because his behaviour tends to follow the pattern of people who do become quite dangerous. Something makes them like that. At 7 he might be able to be helped if he has suffiecient expert care and then a safe place to be. He is not safe. This tale will have a whole sorry saga behind it probably, and we have got to get to the bottom of it so we do not create children like this. A lot of kids have a morbid fascination with death at some stage of their growing up. In rural Australia they tend to deal with it better because they understand the rhythm of life. Certainly the boy is not a safe person to be with now and everyone will be suspicious of him and they will be really angry with him. Really angry. He doesn't have much to start with in life. Maybe he can't be helped. This whole story is profoundly sad for everyone; all of us, but I am so sorry for the reptile keepers who have seen hours of nurturing destroyed so callously by a small child .