Wisconsin Police: “Kiddos” Need to Stop Spooking Amish Horses
Apparently “kiddos” in one Wisconsin community have made a game of trying to scare Amish buggy horses.
“Kiddos” is the word the police department uses; “juveniles” is from the report at wearegreenbay.com:
FREDERIC, Wis. (WFRV) – Authorities in northwestern Wisconsin are urging parents to speak with their children after receiving multiple reports of juveniles jumping in front of Amish horses and riding dirt bikes close to them, startling the animals.
“It’s dangerous and someone could get killed in this thick traffic on our side streets,” the department stated in a post.
The mention of side streets suggests that the juveniles are doing this while the buggies are passing through town.
Juveniles do stupid things; “messing about” like this in town with motor vehicles around adds another later of stupid to it.
Here’s the actual full message from the local police department:
Hello Community, we have heard of multiple complaints of kiddos jumping out in front of Amish Horses and riding dirt bikes right next to them and scaryung [sic] the horses. Please teach the children don’t do that to horses, give them space. It’s dangerous and someone could get killed in this thick traffic on our side streets. Also our Amish Community having a wedding the first weekend in May so we will have their families going through town. Slow!!
Seeing the original message doesn’t really clarify the picture – as mentioned, they are referred to as “kiddos”, a word that suggests young children. But they are also described as riding dirt bikes.
I don’t really know dirt bikes. But I know I’ve seen, say, 10-year-olds on them before. Children younger than that, even. Or are these teens, as you would assume at first?
This is in Polk County, Wisconsin. Side note: As it happens, I once knew Polk County quite well – or at least the lower 80% of it. I lived locally for a summer and sold books in most of the county in the early 2000s. However that predated the current Amish presence in the county – three separate communities which all settled there in the early 2010s. It also predated my experience with the Amish.
Knock it off
When a horse “spooks” – another word for being startled – it can be dangerous. Amish buggy horses spooking have been implicated in a number of accidents, some of them fatal. They include:
- a 39-year-old Amish mother was killed in Branch County, Michigan when the horse was “spooked” by an oncoming vehicle
- an Amish teen was injured and the horse had to be put down when a garbage truck spooked a horse in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania
- a horse spooking in Forest County, PA resulted in a runaway buggy with an Amish toddler aboard…thankfully saved by a brave state trooper
So these juveniles, whoever they are, need to knock it off. The fact that the police are imploring parents to speak with their children does not fill me with a lot of confidence that something will be done.
It suggests that whatever they are doing is not a cite-able offense. Or if it is, that local police are not willing to take that step.
Though, if one or two of these young people were to face some sort of formal consequence, that might got a lot further than asking parents to do their jobs via the media.
However, if I had to guess, the description of the offenders as “kiddos” and “children”, and the fact that police are appealing to parents, would make me guess that these are on the younger side of things.
But the fact that the police department felt compelled to post this publicly suggests that it is a problem of some significance. Hopefully that’s not the extent of it – for the sake of the Amish, and the “kiddos” alike.
Please…
Please, stop these kids! They need to be held accountable for the harm of the horses and people whom they are jeopardizing!
I absolutely agree that these juveniles need to be held properly accountable! This is absolutely horrible! I really hope that it doesn’t reach a point where someone is killed, or badly hurt.
if the “kids” involved with this sorry to use the word, stupidity, if they are underage, hold the parents responsible and fine the parents a substantial amount……..guaranteed when you fine the parents for what their out-of-control kid is doing, it will stop. The Amish are very peaceful and most likely will not press charges……so do the next best thing go after the parents of the kids that are doing this
Spooked horses in Wisconsin
Spooking and Amish horse and buggy is a deplorable action. If these children are minors then their parents should be heavily fined. Also, why are underage youngsters driving dirt bikes on main roads or even side roads? I live in Northwestern, Pennsylvania among many Amish communities. for the most part,The buggies are properly marked and highlighted, and people automatically should know to give horses a wide berth, they are large animals. being mindful and courteous should be a given. The kiddos should be made to be accountable and so should their parents nothing like a stiff fine to drive the point home when the police run across this action, they should take the young ones in and make the parents come to the station and have a talk directly with them. I am not against social media, but I don’t use it a lot because I find that people generally ignore it asking somebody to do right on social media is pretty much a waste of time. It can be ignored. Nothing like a heavy fine to call attention to the problem.
Problem here in PA. Kids on motor bikes causing problems. People/neighbors know who these kids are and laugh and think it’s funny. No, the bikes should be taken away from them by their parents. Tougher laws are needed to take the bikes away. But of course, this never happens. So it’s just a matter of time til something happens.