A viral video showing four young men from Florida laughing as they drag a helpless shark at top speed behind their boat has not only cast a light on the sadistic nature of those who are so arrogant as to believe they are untouchable, but also on how ineffective Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission ― or indeed any Fish & Game department ― is at prosecuting cases of animal cruelty.
The Daily Mail labeled them “cruel fishermen,” and we couldn’t agree more. This wasn’t the first time that these men ― Michael Wenzel, Robert Lee “Bo” Benac, Steven Heintz and Nicholas Burns Easterling, allegedly ― were filmed engaging in heinous acts of animal cruelty and proudly boasting about their exploits online. They have left a destructive path of dead animals in their wake, and yet nothing has been done. Not even their fishing license has been revoked, not even when they held up a dead dog they had apparently used as shark bait! The person that turned them in even posted about how he has killed thousands of shark’s fishing and even HE is outraged.
I have to ask what kind of parents bring up men to act in this incredibly cruel and sadistic manner? And, if these four young middle-class white boys were black would Fish and Game would be quibbling about finding something to charge them with. You may think this comparison a stretch but considering it takes little more than being black and driving a car or wearing a hoodie and not being in your own neighborhood to get you shot by cops how come other officials can’t find anything to charge these contemptible specimens with when they actually boast about it online and supply the proof with video?
One might assume they lack parental guidance, but at least three of their parents are prominent members of the Floridian community, Benac’s mother is Betsy Benac chairwoman of the Manatee County Commission, (Benac is a Republican who was unfortunately re-elected to her position in 2016) Wenzel’s father is Robert Wenzel, the Manatee County planning section manager, Spencer Heintz’s father is Steven Heintz, Managing Partner of Heintz & Becker, a personal injury plaintiff’s law firm and his mother is Dr. Joan Blackford-Heintz, a chiropractor. This dreadful lot should all get together with the killer dentist, Walter Palmer and have a convention!
Thankfully, there are thousands of outraged Floridians who are demanding justice, and who have started an online petition and are urging Fish & Game to do something. My guess is F&G are waiting for the brouhaha to die down, while telling everyone “we are investigating” and will eventually let this one slide when the attention is turned elsewhere. They haven’t prosecuted them in the past for a long list of animal abuse they have been posting online, so it’s doubtful they will do anything now unless public pressure forces them to do otherwise.
In 2015, a case against one of the men for mishandling an endangered bird was dropped despite the countless photographic evidence they had. Online reports show these four have been abusing animals for years and getting away with it, and their parents keep defending them! This is why I am calling this for what it is, white male privilege - thinking that you can do anything you want to anyone or anything you want because you can, and there will be no consequences. Officials don’t want to prosecute people for animal cruelty when it has anything at all to do with fishing or hunting in case they upset the political apple cart. It’s a disgusting abuse of power on all levels.
These four sick specimens of humanity are obviously bully’s with little man complexes that leads them to torture creatures who are helpless in the face of it, but according to online reports, they are now begging for extra police protection because of the threats they have received! It seems that the boys don’t mind hurting animals who are unable to fight back but are too cowardly to face humans who can stand up for themselves. Typical bully behavior. I can’t wait for the news story on how miserable their lives are now due to all of the attention and how they’ve been “threatened” by people and are just outraged. Don’t expect any sympathy here.
Let’s hope that at the very least these boys become social pariahs if we can’t rely on our officials to do anything and their parents are embarrassed into taking charge of allowing their kids to go out and commit animal abuse.
Beyond that, it’s time to change up the people who are in control of Fish & Game for people who actually do what it takes to prosecute animal abusers instead of handing out more hunting and fishing licenses to them, and create tougher laws for animal cruelty.
There’s a hotline if anyone has any more information, but it would appear that hundreds of people have already called in with plenty of eyewitness accounts, so it’s going to take a lot of pressure from people dialing in and insisting these four are made to pay for their crimes.
888-404-FWCC (3922) or online atTip@MyFWC.com.