[Luisgallo]

[ QUOTE ]
.

However, I would not support a criminal punishment of losing a hand for the crime of torturing an animal.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is an intersting point: surely the punishment of losing a hand for for torturing an animal is way out of line, but here you are not punishing the guy, you are stopping his action and doing so he loses his hand.

If we assume that first we have to stop the action because the action is clearly wrong in principle we cannot be responsible for the consequences of doing something which is towards the law.