Aurora Starchild
Former North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn is receiving massive online backlash after heating the heart of an animal he shot. Cawthorn was on a hunting trip for disabled men when he shot a small deer and ate part of the heart. He posted the video to social media, and many think it’s gross.
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Former NC Rep Madison Cawthorn Ate the Heart of a Small Four-Legged Animal Moments After It Died
The clip begins with Cawthorn shooting the deer from inside a hunting blind. “Wooo baby, big buck down!” he exclaims before wheeling over to it. Cawthorn is resigned to a wheelchair after a tragic car accident rendered his legs paralyzed.
“Hey little bud, I’m sorry you’re dead,” he says, noting that it was truly a gorgeous looking little deer. Then the clip cuts to Cawthorn with blood on his hand
“We disintegrated the heart with a shot, which is good for the animal because we don’t want him to suffer. But we got a little bit left right here, so, we’ll just get right in there,” he says before chomping into the organ. As he chews through, a long piece of pericardium stretches from his mouth to his hand.
“Mmmm, it’s actually really good, I’m not going to lie,” he says. There is blood all over his mouth. “A little bone… a little more bone… oh that might be bullet,” he says as he meticulously chews the piece of heart he bit off.
For the record, eating the heart of a deer one has just hunted is a post-kill ritual that originates with Native Americans. The tradition has two known purposes depending on the tribe. One is to show respect to the life that was just taken. The other is to absorb some of the animal’s courage and strength. It’s considered to be risky because of parasites and disease.
Over time, non-Native hunters have also taken up the practice. So, Madison Cawthorn didn’t just pull a Jeffrey Dahmer or anything… not that a deer is a human, but still.
A lot of people thought it was really gross and they didn’t hold back from letting him know.
Here Are Some Reactions to the Heart-Eating Video
“Good God!! Why share this sh*t??”
“Would be a shame he had to deal with trichinella after this.”
“I wonder if the animal had heartworm.”
“I know of someone who ate under cooked fair meat (he killed himself), contracted trichinosis and went blind. That ended his career as a doctor.”
“Disgusting just plain DISGUSTING.”
“I am nauseous…”
“That’s incredibly bad for his health.”
“Wondering if the “bone” in the heart was lead fragments.”
Others were upset that it appeared to be a very manufactured scene between the sand, the paint on Cawthorn’s face, and the hunting blind.
“This looks like a blackbuck, an Asian antelope, so this is a canned hunt. The animals are contained within a compound, not a true hunt. Nothing noble or brave about this at all. Disgusting on many levels.”
One person even accused Cawthorn of not finishing his meal and another said he didn’t eat the heart properly.
“In the footage you can clearly see him hiding the uneaten portion of the offal under his wheelchair. As that’s not the first place your mother is going to look, to see if you’ve eaten your dinner! No dessert for you!!”
“There’s no way that tastes good. He didn’t even dunk in BBQ sauce first. Everybody knows you must dunk your raw baby goat heart in BBQ sauce first. There are rules.”
There were also some pretty awful comments about his disability. But not everyone was hating. In fact, even some people who disagree with Cawthorn’s politics stood up for the heart-eating ritual.
“Not a big hunter myself and gods forbid I defend a fascist but it is a bit of a tradition for those who hunt for meat to do this.”
“Coming from an area in Antrim County, MI (yes, THAT Antrim County) known as a ‘hunters’ paradise,’ I can say with certainty that while disgusting, this is a common ritual. The hunter who kills the deer eats the heart.”
What do you think? Was this gross or normal? We want to know!
