The gratuitous killings of Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Racoon are taking social media by storm, with most pointing to this as a symbol of government run amok. Whatever rights you think you have are all too disposable, sometimes without any hearing, by faceless bureaucrats working for government agencies. It reminds me of this scene from Red Dawn (1984):
Once upon a time many Americans, including Benjamin Franklin, kept tame squirrels as pets. In a period when accused felons are often released without cash bond, and our county is awash in illegal aliens, the State has the time to take a man’s pets and euthanize them for no better reason than that they can do so, without a hearing for the owner. This injustice cries out for redress, along with the other greater and smaller usurpations by those who are often hilariously called public servants.
“Peanut was the best thing that ever happened to us.”
( 🐿️ forgive me…..but I couldn’t stop laughing when Longo said those words. )
Maybe the couple should get married and have some children.
“On Oct. 30, DEC seized a raccoon and squirrel sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies. In addition, a person involved with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To test for rabies, both animals were euthanized,” the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Chemung County Department of Health said in a statement. “The animals are being tested for rabies and anyone who has been in contact with these animals is strongly encouraged to consult their physician.”
More here:
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/instagram-squirrel-peanut-seized-by-new-york-authorities/
“To test for rabies the animals were euthanized…. ”
Only mammals can get rabies, and to contract they must have either been bitten by another mammal with rabies or eaten carrion of an infected animal (that is why during spring time thaw rabies is especially prevalent.)
The test for rabies is the examination of the animal’s brain -which is always fatal.
So many questions! here:
What this looks like is a “first woman” DEI militant commander, of the “special operations environment law enforcement group” in other words SWAT team for bunny cops took matters into her own ruthless hands for the sheer joy of imposing “the law”.
Peanut had lived in the home for 7 years with no issues–why did the authorities decide NOW that he posed a health threat? What are the odds that a squirrel or any other critter who has spent nearly all of its life indoors would have rabies?
ps. if a person were bitten by the squirrel there are rabies shots if there is concern, I’ve gotten them myself after my dog was bitten (she was vaccinated and was boosted then quarantined). I had handled the dog, blood and all, that is why I got the shots. The shots were bad in the past, they are not now.
Dogs can be vaccinated against rabies, humans not.
Humans can be cured of rabies with shots early, dogs not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMfp-SsRXg
ps.. ps… bats are the worst for rabies. Very small bite, almost unnoticeable.. if you ever find a bat in a room with a small child.. you assume the child was bit and the bat was infected. The child get’s the shots. Early no issue. Late is too late.
Years ago a small bat was circling in our bedroom as we slept. I awokened to the sound of his flying which I could not at first place. I turned on the light, stunned the bat with a flipped towel, wrapped it in the towel and threw it out of the window which my Bride had opened. Good teamwork.
Ruppert has my vote….sorry Donald
For the record, I agree with all comments here. My comment about rabies was given only to point out the excuse that the authorities used to euthanize the animals. I should have been more explicit. Apologies.
So now we have cats, dogs, ducks, squirrels, and raccoons for Trump…
Has PETA spoken out against this yet?
All it takes in these blue states is one accusation and you are guilty unless proven innocent, and by then it is too late. Pet killed, business “temporarily” closed, kids taken into custody.
A state that has broad police powers for what you want done to your neighbor eventually turns those powers on you. Sure, the laws come in cute and compassionate, subsequent to a one in a million tearjerker story that results in greater government might. They call it Joey’s Law or Angela’s Law after the poster child victim. But Joey and Tabitha are not saved by the new law, and far more children (and adults) are put in fear, misery, and chains through these ill considered acts of compassion. In a society where death and disease have become unacceptable results, a regime of safety is instituted in which freedom of action and personal property are quick casualties.
As a child my husband in Louisina had a flying squirrel named what else, Rocky. His father was a pediatrician so maybe he okayed the pet.
We have a opossum that visits every so often to eat cat food for put out for stray cats.
They do not carry rabies but when they play ”possum” they fake death by foaming at the mouth, releasing a stench that smells like death. Possums eat all sorts of vermin and are immune to venom.
Agree Peanut should have been quarantined. The animal handler should have known to wear gloves. Hope he or she had the rabies shots.
Note that the supposed bite from Peanut only occurred during the “investigation.” Thus before the government got involved there was absolutely no risk that Peanut infected anyone with rabies. Even during the investigation, Fred did not bite anyone, so no risk there even after the government got involved.
So why then were the euthanized to test for rabies? You might as well kill all mammals to test them due to the “potential” that any mammal could have rabies. It’s a bit like the type of witch trial where you test to see if someone is a witch by trying to drown her; if she drowns then you know that she isn’t a witch.
Update: Peanut’s owner has posted on social media that DEC has not definitively told him whether or not Peanut was euthanized, so it’s possible he’s still alive and being quarantined for symptoms of rabies. If he did show symptoms then, presumably, he would be euthanized so that his brain tissue could be examined. This is similar to the old “rabbit tests” for pregnancy in which the rabbit ALWAYS died regardless of the result – because the rabbit had to be killed in order to perform the test.
Research on Twitter about Mark Longo, the supposed owner of Peanut the Squirrel and his pet racoon, indicates there is more to this story than we know. There are some reports that he has been untruthful in some unspecified things, that he has performed pornography (I found that allegation hard to believe), and that his Twitter account @squirrel_dad_20 has been suspended for unspecified rules violation. His Facebook account is however up and running. I don’t feel comfortable posting a link to his account here, but the reader can query in the same way that I did to find it. Suffice it to say, however, that whatever the truth is, we are being lied to.
LQC,
From what I’ve seen (mainly “Decoy Voice” on YouTube), you’re absolutely right: there is more to this story than was presented in the “RIP Peanut!” reactions. And unfortunately, the owner most definitely seems to have done online pornography. It’s a weird world we live in.
Thankfully, puzzling out The Peanut Incident is not required for salvation.
Nor is puzzling out whether most folks are good guys or bad guys.
On a practical level, we must be (and are exhorted to be) prudent. But our salvation does not depend on whether we are “taken in” by any particular scheme. It depends on us being taken in by Our Lord and the end of this mess.
For that, remarkably little cleverness and savvy are required.
Philip Nachazel: Perhaps your first instinct when responding to a horrifying case such as this shouldn’t be to scold people for not having kids.
I dunno Togusa, Philip’s suggestion that the couple who earn a living fornicating for money on the internet should settle down, get married and have some kids sounds like good Christian advice to me … Maybe my bible is out of date?
Never had much use for PETA but one thing they are correct on is the mindlessness of government when it comes to animal and human interactions.
Togusa.
Scolding?
Wow.
Ah yeah…right.
I will scold folks who can not distinguish between the sacredness of human life v the life of animals.
I have a pet. She’s a cat. She will die soon. She’s 15 years old. She is an animal.
Children are ripped apart in the womb.
Children are chemically aborted.
Human life is judged *below* that of animals in this perverted culture and I make a comment about the couple having children v being choked up over a squirrel that was wrongly euthanized.
If my suggestion seemed harsh than so be it.
This world has gone to the dogs…
but I won’t give up speaking about the sacredness of life. When the couple becomes elderly I’m sure the future animal of choice will bring them nuts to comfort them.