PETA Demands ‘Empathy Training’ after Cornhusker Wrench-Beats Biting Raccoon

Jack Gangwish probably he wishes he never attempted to bridge the man-beast divide and make a friend in the animal kingdom. A selfie with a raccoon rarely ends well.

The pass rusher naturally rushed from his truck to take a photo with the animal (Who wouldn’t?) when he spotted him milling about at night. The University of Nebraska defensive end, who endured a bite and a rabies scare, now faces the wrath of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for responding to the roadside attack with a deadly wrench response of his own.

The olive branch extended from Gangwish tragically ended in an interspecies brawl. The masked marauders steal from garbage cans. But that doesn’t mean they deserve roadside summary executions, does it?

“Student athletes are set up to be role models,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk writes Nebraska’s athletic director, “so it’s critical for the university to send its players the message that bullying and abusing anyone is unacceptable.”

The group wants the school to institute “empathy training” for student-athletes on the subject of human-animal interactions. Should we pretend that the beast didn’t bite him first and forgo sensitivity training for the procyonids?

Newkirk’s letter begins:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including those who live in Nebraska, in response to news that Cornhuskers junior defensive end Jack Gangwish took a selfie with a raccoon he spotted on the side of the road and then used a wrench to kill the raccoon. No animal deserves to be bludgeoned to death, and cruelty is not acceptable under the law. It’s time for acts of cruelty to animals committed by players to be taken extremely seriously, and with violence in football culture now under the microscope, this is the time to address the issue.

Can’t we all, critters and Cornhuskers, just get along?

File under: Husker Don’t.