One is intentional, and it is not the fisherman. What these kids did is just wrong. All those sissy liberals and those who feel the kids upbringing was wrong can "intervention" all they want. If a person could do this to an animal, the would do it to a person. The punishment should be so fitting. Give me the switch . . . I'll flip it on those fvks.

It's really time to close the boarders. They may be immigrants, but I am sick and tired of having to put up with other "cultural" values. This is AMERICA. Learn it, love it or leave it. CA is too crowded as it is. The US should deport every person who comits a crime and is not a citizen, and the offenders' siblings.

I've spent a couple days over there . . . went with a Walther P99 instead.

LOL, we don't have a zoo here, only an aquarium.

However, if you consider the populus at large................... :D

who knows...they could be the next generation of Terrorists.

They kill helpless animals, and if this goes on to show others, other kids will do the same. Who knows if they wont go to some 3rd world country later in their life and try to bomb some embassy or something?

The saying should go...an eye for an eye..a tooth for a tooth. They should be beat against the concrete and stabbed like they did the animals.

Sorry but I'm an animal lover :)

You're missing the point completely. Sure this happens to some extent on fishing boats and it's acceptable in that light I suppose (I know fisherman and am one and I try to kill the fish as quickly as possible because *I* can't stomach them being in the pain I know they are).

The problem here is the intent - they intended to vandalize the place and murder the animals. They had no regard for their lives and no regard for the society that covets them. Fisherman value the fish's lives because it is those lives the provide their livelyhood. It's quite different than vandalizm and disrespect for life and property.

Disrespect is another key here they disrespected the people of long beach and those who own the aquarium. They disrespected those who go to the aquarium. They disrespected the law and last but not least they have shown a keen disrespect for their parents and themselves.

I may be a high and mighty animal lover but I don't kill something unless I indend to eat it or save myself from it.

I've killed many fish in my lifetime and I have also killed many sharks in my lifetime but my enjoyment for the killing part left me well before I learned to count.

Life should be respected as should a parents responsibility to reasonably try to keep their children from burdening society.

Totally agree mikester, just wanted to needle the group-think mentality that seems so pervasive here.

So the victims are NOT just stupid fish, but the perpertrators ARE just stupid kids who should be fried?

a boy, is a dog, is a pig, is a rat, is a chicken :rolleyes:

I can't get too excited about fish. If it was mammals I would feel differently. Charge the hooligans with trespass etc and make them work to pay for the sharks.

Where is the outrage over drift nets that drown dolphins, on purpose and for profit? Or leg hold traps?

My wife occasionally volunteers at the Aquarium. . . Needless to say, people there were pretty disturbed by this.

When I first heard this story, I immediately thought - "gang inititation". I'm still not sure if it may have been something like this where the kids have to prove how "tough" they are by doing something so atrocious. Then again though (and I'm certainly not saying what they did was justifiable), growing up can be awfully hard - kids are inherently just mean and nasty when it comes to asserting dominance and trying to establish their place in a pecking order. I think there's something like that afoot here. I can only imagine how bad it is in an immigrant community in a city like Long Beach. I'm sure it's not exactly a happy-go-lucky upbringing where everyone's happy all the time.

What's interesting to me is I wonder how many of the people so horrified and sickened by this story eat fish on a regular basis. How about beef? Pork? Chicken?

Have they ever given pause to think where that clean-looking, processed, distinctly non-animal looking patty in their fridge comes from? Ever looked into what goes on in a modern animal "farm"? The things that go on in our own animal "industry" would make most people sick to their stomachs. The abuses at the Aquarium pale in comparison. Animals raised for food are NOT raised happily in open fields casually munching on grass - they're treated brutally from birth.

Probably most people simply don't know this. Maybe it's about time they became educated on the matter so as to have the background necessary to make more socially responsible choices. Quite a few others I'm sure just deliberately ignore this little aspect of our wonderful, modern and "model" society and come up with a convenient rationalization like "they're just animals" or "God intended us to be top of the food chain" or something. . . If one really believes that, please explain to me how this treatment was any different. How about hunting for "sport"? Controlling animal populations? Please. Our destruction of natural habitats would take care of that quite nicely in most cases. In the others, nature would take care of itself as it has done for millions of years.

Come on all you hypocrites - where are your justifications for this? Too busy stuffing your faces with pork rinds or all-beef tacos? Explain to me how this is "okay". Explain to me how it's not right for a couple of little brats to kill a "few fish" but it's okay for our food "industry" to raise and slaughter millions of chickens, pigs, cows, etc. in miserable conditions just so fat Americans can rationalize it as they wolf down a few more Big Macs and become MORE obese.

Sickened by this story? Use it to inspire a change in personal behavior. You'll be healthier too.

The "anti-meat" argument has some place in this discussion, but imho the crime here is less against the fish (although they paid the ultimate price), but is in fact a crime against society. For better or worse, we as a society have "approved" of the slaughter of animals for food. On the other hand, we value places like zoos or aquariums as celebrations of preservation and learning (yes, I know we can argue that one too, but bear with me). What these boys did was a crime against the values of society. And it was a vicious and distasteful attack. It shows as lack of concern for living beings, but more importantly, a lack of respect for the society and culture in which they live.

Some fairly lofty idealism is coming out here.

The point is the behavior of the perpetrators as nostatic and others have illuminated. My position is that each act of violence must be punished as an example to others as to what will and should happen to those that would commit such an atrocity. Same goes for the Santa Barbara frat boys, to answer that question.

Recently, a few have received fairly stiff sentences for killing dogs. One year in the slammer seems to be the target for adults. Whether they serve out the year is not the point. When sentenced, that's what the people hear. One year should therefore be the sentence given to any wanton killing of any species. We just can't tolerate humans going around hacking up animals.

The spread of the poll choices was intended to go from light to severe without much thought as to practicality. Especially the deportation. That won't happen. I hope that a message is sent to the community that this type of behavior is totally unacceptable. However, this is in a city that experiences, on average, a homicide a week. We are right on pace for this year. So, the score is three fish and 40+ humans murdered in the year.

As far as people getting shot, knifed or in other ways injured at the hands of others, there are several each week that survive their wounds. Long Beach is a violent place where one doesn't venture too freely after dark in many areas. The violence is not confined to poor neighborhoods, but the bulk of it occurs there. I just drive around these areas both night and day.

So, in the context of the big picture, the killing of the fish is simply different. We have along way to go regarding this punishment issue. The whole system needs an overhaul.

Maybe three fish will help to that end.

The little Baztards should walk the plank.

It's the parents!! I am 32, and it is readily apparent that my generation simply refuses to take resposibility for it's own actions; including damaging their own children through lack of disipline(sp), or not instilling the idea of respect. Thoses kids, just like the frat boys, do not have respect, or compassion. Those values are taught by parents, not an xbox, or TV. It's just like people suing McDonalds because their kids got fat. NEWS FLASH: McDonalds ain't healthy eating, especially on a daily basis. Oh ya, coffe is hot btw. It really makes me sick that people walk around like a bunch of idiots complaining about everything, none of which is under their control, like gridlock; yet they block intersections regularly, because their late for an appt. Sorry to rant here, but man I'm embarrassed to be associated as a parent with most of these people.
And another thing..that lady here in FL is a duma&&, she would have sued the police & school board had they let crazyjonny hurt himself.

The above rant was only my opinion...I pick option 3.

My marine biology professor is actually working with the prosecution on this case. He is outlining all of what the sharks went through with regards to trauma and such and he feels very strongly about this case. At this point according to him, the minimum these kids will get is probation with house-arrest and over 500 hours of community service. What the prosecution is seeking and what they consider realistic is a 9-year sentence at a juvenile detention facility without the possibility of parole until half of it has been served and probation following the sentence.

give them little nicks and cuts and let them swim with a few of the *hungry* 3-4 ft sharks.... one at a time, of course

send them back to where they came from.