Please tell me this is not real. Baby squirrell vs. pepper spray.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

I know cruelty to animals, especially squirrells and other rodents, seems to be perfectly accepted and even encouraged here at TB, but I had no idea how widespread the rodent fear is.

Unless the video is a fake of course:

YouTube - baby squirrel abuse

An officer with pepper spray, the kids (and teacher?) screaming to "SPRAY IT". WTH?

If someone happens to wonder how I ran into this story about one of the police forces finest, it made its way into the tabloids over here .

Regards
Sam

[Vorago]

Maybe he should have used his taser, that would have stopped the deadly rodent threat much more effictively.

Stupid ****ing idiot.

[TheSuzie]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

I know cruelty to animals, especially squirrells and other rodents, seems to be perfectly accepted and even encouraged here at TB

I'm wondering what gave you that idea. Not saying it is a wrong impression but I'm not sure

I have posted about considering killing rats after they caused thousands of dollars of damage to two vehicles and destroyed a shed where I stay. Still in the end I did not do it and if I had I would have made it quick as possible.

I know we are a diverse group but I also know that a significant portion of the talk here is colored by macho BS as is typical on the net. In any case, I am a bit afraid to watch that video and even more worried that it is real.

Peace,
S

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by TheSuzie

I'm wondering what gave you that idea. Not saying it is a wrong impression but I'm not sure

I have posted about considering killing rats after they caused thousands of dollars of damage to two vehicles and destroyed a shed where I stay. Still in the end I did not do it and if I had I would have made it quick as possible.

I know we are a diverse group but I also know that a significant portion of the talk here is colored by macho BS as is typical on the net. In any case, I am a bit afraid to watch that video and even more worried that it is real.

Peace,
S

A few threads about doing seemingly funny (to some) things to various animals.

Killing the squirrel would've been absolutely ok, after all they "suspected" it had rabies. That same goes for other pests (while cute, the squirrels usually fall into that category), killing is fine as long as it's as swift and painless as possible.

We keep a cat for rodent control, and if she plays with her live catches, regardless of the species, I will kill 'em for her.
Now some will consider that to be cruel towards her, but if there's one thing I have not that much tolerance for, it's torture.

Over here in Finland, if You have an loose animal that's dangerous to the livestock or domestic pets, it's killed instantly, or trapped if that's possible and/or feasible. Under no circumstances would it be allowed to escape to spread the alledged disease around. Using pepper spray or any other repelling method is just plain stupid.

Perhaps for that reason rabies and other easily transmittable diseases are very rare over here.

Regards
Sam

[TheSuzie]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.
A few threads about doing seemingly funny (to some) things to various animals.

.....

Over here in Finland, if You have an loose animal that's dangerous to the livestock or domestic pets, it's killed instantly, or trapped if that's possible and/or feasible.

I guess I am lucky, Sam. I think I have managed to miss most of those threads.

Here, the ranchers have the right to shoot any animal that bother the cattle.

Off to Sleep,
S

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If it was rabid and showing obvious signs, then its appropriate to kill it. Pepper spray seems like a wierd approach to take to dealing with a rabit animal.

Doesn't matter how small the creature is, rabies is not something you want to deal with!

[Big_Daddy]

If you're going to put down a rodent, an animal that's wounded beyond help (et cetera), you do it quick and painless. You don't prolong the inevitable, you don't use methods to hurt it for the sake of hurting it.

And look at the video...The squirrel was clearly slow enough to be dealth with something else. Yeah, sure it's gross to stomp on the animal or anything similar, but it's better than using pepper spray to torture it.

[Clark Dark]

watched the video...the adult voice clearly says "don't spray it"...the kids were sad..we don't really know the full extent of what happened....IMO, isolated incident

[bigtexashonk]

Yes, it's for real. My son in law works for that PD.

[Ziltoid]

Meh, Tazers are more fun. [/sarcasm]

[Relic]

I love animals, I really do. That said, sometimes animal-lovers drive me crazy. This thread is GOOFY.
I hate seeing animals suffer, but a bite from a rabid animal 'aint no fun. Let's say that squirrel was rabid (and it sure as hell looks as though there's something wrong with it)- what should the officer have done? You cant touch it, correct? Was he maybe supposed to draw his service pistol and empty the mag? Maybe he could have jumped up and squished it? A lucky shot with a taser?
Maybe he should just have walked away and let the thing run off to who knows where, to spread more rabies and maybe bite some kid? At least that way he would have been "Officer Goodguy" and the squirrel would have lived happily ever after (until the intense pain, brain turning to mush and violent convulsions started, that is)

EDIT - not aiming at you with my statement T-Bird. My point is that I see emotions overruling logic here. Rabid animals act strangely. This squirrel is certainly acting strangely - there are people all around. The officer did what he had to do even though it seems cruel.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

On the areas where small(ish) rodents, birds, stray cats, hedgehogs etc. pose a problem, officers often have a landing net for capturing said animals. At least that's my understanding. After that, a sharp twist of it's neck will remove the threat. Out of sight of the children obviously.

Possibly repelling the supposedly sick animal was still IMHO the worst idea possible. Well, after emptying his gun at it of course.That would've been something no trained gun-carryer would have done. And that would most probably made it's way into more "news" than just the tabloids in Finland .

As for the squirrels behaviour, that's the way the early spring youngsters behave, at least over here IME. They fearlessly explore anything, and by anything, I really mean anything. Nothing is too small (pebbles) or too large (an old bus), and if it makes even the tiniest of a sound, the young squirrel is drawn to it like the whatever was a neo-magnet.

Regards
Sam

[Steve]

Is pepper spray lethal to rodents or are we just going to annoy and agitate the dookie out of an (allegedly) rabid squirrel?

Why are we going to annoy and agitate the dookie out of a rabid squirrel when there are a bunch of kids at the incident scene?

What are we going to do when the annoyed and agitated squirrel does a button hook around Officer Davis, runs up the leg of one of those kids and bites their face off?

Is there no blanket, tarp or jacket anywhere in that school or police car, no net or similar anywhere in the athletic dept. no big effing box in the art dept. or mailroom you can throw over the animal to control it's movements a little better?

Hosing a potentially rabid animal down with MACE when there are a bunch of kids at risk in the incident area would be probably my very last choice right behind doing nothing but keeping the kids out of the area until animal control got on scene. But, that's just me.

[bassteban]

In my defense, any animal cruelty HUMOR on my part is/was driven by pure bad taste, not macho BS- I save that for my wife.
On topic, I can't even watch the link for fear of what I might see. I love animals, they're so much more sincere than people.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

On the areas where small(ish) rodents, birds, stray cats, hedgehogs etc. pose a problem, officers often have a landing net for capturing said animals. At least that's my understanding. After that, a sharp twist of it's neck will remove the threat. Out of sight of the children obviously.

Possibly repelling the supposedly sick animal was still IMHO the worst idea possible. Well, after emptying his gun at it of course.That would've been something no trained gun-carryer would have done. And that would most probably made it's way into more "news" than just the tabloids in Finland .

As for the squirrels behaviour, that's the way the early spring youngsters behave, at least over here IME. They fearlessly explore anything, and by anything, I really mean anything. Nothing is too small (pebbles) or too large (an old bus), and if it makes even the tiniest of a sound, the young squirrel is drawn to it like the whatever was a neo-magnet.

Regards
Sam

Yes, the net would have been great and probably the ideal solution but it's a bit "after the fact"... I honestly don't know what else he could have done? It's obvious that the thing kept on coming at him. He sprayed it to keep it at a distance. Makes sense to me. It's not an ideal situation, nor is it pleasant, but it is what it is.

My back and front yard are loaded with squirrels and none of them act like that. They run away from people at virtually every opportunity. Sometimes the adults when guarding a nest will be a little more aggressive but this one was behaving oddly. It sure didn't seem to be cornered and was on the ground - a squirrel's first instinct when threatened is to climb, and when cornered/trapped is to defend. I still think that there was something not right with this one.
Granted, I don't claim to know it for sure and it may very well have been 100% healthy but with a crowd of kids nearby, why take the chance that it's not? Rabies is unfortunately not all that uncommon here..

[MJ5150]

That is considered animal abuse?

-Mike

[Cabazon]

I'd like to have seen the full context. He may have been waiting on animal control or someone with a net to arrive. He did wait until it approached him to mace it.

Even though that squirrel was moving rather slow, they can be quick and jump.

I don't understand why all of those kids were there, though.

[warwick.hoy]

After my initial knee jerk reaction,...there is simply not enough to go on to draw any conclusions.

[Fassa Albrecht]

Poor little squirrel...

[elgecko]

It was hopped up on PCP. It had the strength of ten squirrels!