Context?
Guy had a squirrel that he cared for after it was injured and kept as a pet because when he (allegedly) tried to release the squirrel it turned up at his door sometime later injured again. (Brief recollection the story is online)
Anyway the city found out and confiscated (right word?) it because owning wild animals is illegal and euthanized it to test for rabies.
Edit: as other have pointed out, the squirell also apparently bit a police officer.
Yes, euthanization is necessary to test for rabies because rabies is freakishly good at staying under the radar until it’s too late. That’s why you need to keep your pets’ shots up to date.
You forgot to mention that rabies kill within 2 weeks and the squirrel was stay at home for 2 years, also squirrels aren’t actually prone to rabies.
Rabies kills within about two weeks of symptoms appearing. It can sit dormant in the body for years before then. And although it’s rare, squirrels can absolutely get rabies, and rabies isn’t the type of thing you just assume isn’t an issue.
Additional context: the squirrel bit one of the officers that was confiscating it. So they absolutely needed to test for rabies.
Don’t post your crimes to social media folks. Or do, I’m not a cop.
No they didnt have to “confiscate” anything and a “animal control officer” not even knowing how to handle a squirrel is a gigantic shit show on its own, especially when the squirrel had absolutely no possibility of even getting rabies itself
kept as a pet because when he (allegedly) tried to release the squirrel it turned up at his door sometime later injured again
My friend’s dad cut a tree down in their yard that had a squirrel nest in it. He didn’t know about the nest when he cut the tree down. Unfortunately the mom died when the tree was felled, and the babies couldn’t survive on their own. My friend’s family bottle fed the babies and raised them until they were old enough to be released. The squirrels never left. They’d run around in the trees and stuff, but they’d come back to the house, wanting to go to tier little beds at night, and get free nuts and stuff. They’d also tear around the house if the weather wasn’t good that day. So, I completely believe that the squirrel came back after being released.
Edit: before the NYC animal department gets any bright ideas, this was 20 years ago, and in a completely different State.
I mean owning wild animals without a permit is a crime too. Dude wasn’t even taking Peanut to the vet cause he, get this, didn’t have a permit.
The problem is the other way around you should be able to visit the vet with a rescue animal regardless of a permit. And a permit for a squirrel is idiotic.
Squirrels are not demosticated. A squirrel will fuck you up dude. Its idiotic thinking people should be able to just cop whatever animal they want off the streets.
We had this discussion before, you hate animals with a passion and don’t understand basic logic.
Squirrels are hemerophile as I already proved to you. They live near us and seek our help when necessary, they aren’t wild like a Bear, Tiger or something like that, they are “wild” like straycats or mice.
And you also don’t know shit about rabies, they don’t just appear in a animal, they need to be infected themselves and they die in a few days to at max 2 weeks also it shows clear behavior when contagious.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies
https://squirreluniversity.com/do-squirrels-remember-humans/
Get a life and stop trying to justify such actions.
If the rest of those turned their crimes into social media hustles, the cops would have a much easier time.
Squirrels tend not to be vectors for rabies. I got shredded by a squirrel my cat brought in that I thought was dead. The doctor shrugged me off and sent me home with some antibiotics.
Squirrels don’t consume rabies vectors, so they’d have to be bitten by a bat with rabies first if they have it.
