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Two D.C. men have been arrested for beating a possum to death. D.C. Police arrested Carlos Lyles this morning and Mark Grimes was charged for the incident when he was arrested for a gun charge on June 7, according to the Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League.
On April 22, just after midnight, WARL staffers received a call from a witness who saw a group of people beating the possum with a number of objects, according to a release. When officers arrived, they found the dead possum in an alley behind 1218 Taylor Street NE. They discovered a large puddle of blood on the ground where witnesses say the incident occurred—blood was also splattered on a nearby wall. And officers found a hockey stick, wooden pole, and a bicycle wheel, all of which had blood and hair on them. Witnesses say that a glass bottle and a wooden bat were involved as well.
While these two men showed “a grave indifference to animals,” causing the possum’s suffering and death, crimes against wildlife “are more common than one would think,” said WHS-WARL spokesman Scott Giaccopo, also noting that authorities are looking for a person who set illegal traps that killed a raccoon in Northwest.
Last month, D.C. police also arrested a woman and charged her with three counts of cruelty for an incident involving three pit bulls.
“These animals are doing nothing other than trying to survive in our world,” Giaccopo said.