Turtle, trying to find place to lay eggs, beaten to death at golf course

Kudos to the state of Wisconsin for helping to get this out there via its Facebook page, but what a horrible story.  Someone in the state took a golf club and beat to death, apparently for fun, a snapping turtle. To make matters worse, they didn’t really beat the poor animal to death. It lingered for two days, with gaping, open, bleeding wounds. Then died.

“The female turtle, looking for a place to lay her eggs, was found lying in the sand in a bunker with holes in its shell. It was also struck in the right eye, a wound which appeared to have been from a golf club.” She died before they could perform surgery.

The turtle was reportedly bludgeoned with a golf club at the Delbrook Golf Course in Delavan, Wisconsin on June 10, between 7:30 and 9:30 in the morning.  There were 35 golfers there at the time.
The female turtle was apparently looking for a place to lay her eggs when some golfer decided to beat her:

The female turtle, looking for a place to lay her eggs, was found lying in the sand in a bunker with holes in its shell. It was also struck in the right eye, a wound which appeared to have been from a golf club. The turtle will have surgery today and has about a 40-60% chance of survival.

The poor thing had its skull fractured, and its shell severely damaged.
The state announced this morning that the turtle died:

For all of those following the case of the turtle which was found beaten on a golf course on Monday, we are sad to report the turtle has died. She passed away late last night or very early this morning. We will update you on the status of the investigation as we can, but wanted to let you know the turtle did not survive the night and surgery was not performed.

She was so ill, they never got a chance to perform the surgery.
What possesses people to do something like this?
The Global Conservative Group is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who did this.  You can contribute to the reward fund via this link (I’ve verified the link, it’s via their Facebook page that is linked to from the State of WI page), or send a check to:

Global Conservation Group, Inc.
808 Fieldcrest Court – Suite 3C
Watertown WI 53094

This comment on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Facebook page summed up the sentiments of many:

It’s not just a turtle. Anyone that can do that to a helpless animal is sick and would probably harm a human too.