What did Kristen and Todd Cooper do? New Forest brothers jailed after seen torturing and mutilating animals in disturbing videos

Kristen and Todd Cooper, the siblings brought up in New Forest, have been jailed for the crime of torturing and mutilating various animals. The brothers have reportedly been committing such crimes for years, as the videos found on their phones were recorded in New Forest National Park in 2021 and 2022.

The siblings have been accused of showing cruelty not just to animals but also to humans. In a separate incident that they were convicted for, the duo reportedly crashed into a car, after which they attacked the mother and son inside the car with a crowbar and a baseball bat.

Kristen, 24, was jailed for five years, and Todd, 29, was jailed for three years and eight months.

Disclaimer: The article mentions graphic animal violence in detail. Reader's discretion is advised.

---

Kristen and Todd Cooper jailed for "the worst case of animal abuse"

Southampton Courts of Justice (Image via Getty/John W Ferguson)

Kristen and Todd Cooper’s trial was held at the Southampton Crown Court on January 19. They had seven offense charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, the proof of which was found on the videos on their phones.

One of these videos portrayed the duo stabbing a deer in the eye, while the other captured them holding a hare by its head and encouraging a dog to bite it. Other footages from their phones include a deer being dragged by its antlers and a man raising a wooden object over a deer’s head as if about to hit it.

In one particularly depraved incident, the Cooper siblings reportedly mutilated the genitalia of a deer to such an extent that the officials who later found it couldn’t identify if it were a male or a female.

According to Daily Mail, an expert witness for the prosecution called the actions of Kristen and Todd Cooper "the worst case of animal abuse they had ever come across in their 24-year veterinary career." Angharad Thomas, the Wildlife Lead from CPS Wessex, claimed that the level of cruelty displayed in the case was beyond his comprehension.

Kristen and Todd Cooper were both defended by different lawyers in their trial, with Todd’s defendant claiming he had ADHD and was exposed to violence from a very young age.

As per Daily Mail, Judge Henry also stated,

“One would have thought that both of you, being brought up in the New Forest, would have had more respect for such defenseless creatures. It was being filmed, other people were present and seemed to find it all very amusing.”

With more offense charges pressed against him, Kristen Cooper was the subject of a ten-year Criminal Behavior Order, which restricted him from possessing a catapult or being on farmland between 12-6 AM. He was also banned from owning a dog for ten years.