Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
A lawyer in my home county was just sentenced to a $2,500.00 fine for catching and drowning squirrels. He was turned in BY HIS WIFE!!!
He offers as a mitigating circumstance that the squirrels have cost him a fortune eating his woodwork. Read the story here.
I know where he is coming from. I've battled the nibbling little fuzzy-tailed rats and suffered the indignity of having them eat through another part of my home after putting up (less than attractive) mesh to fix the first hole they dug into my house.
These stories always bring up an interesting issue: Do animals have souls? Do they have rights to their own bodies (thus putting them higher on our societal value scale than little humans awaiting birth)?
My own thoughts are that animals lack souls, have no rights, and I should be able to pop a cap in one if he eats the eves off my home.
I eat animals, but it makes no difference to the animal whether I eat him or leave him where he fell. In both cases the animal is dead. The idea that eating him makes killing him OK where hunting him for sport (or to protect my roof) is not OK is just a psych tool to make humans feel better. It doesn't mean a thing to the dead animal.
Anyone who eats animals but objects to another killing one to protect his house is a hypocrite; this judge who fined the lawyer $2,500.00 included.
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Aug '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Tree rats. Kill 'em. Then eat 'em. Squirrel stew. Just a little greasy. Kind of like rabbit. Unlike guinea pig which is quite tasty when skewered and roasted over an open fire. Seriously.
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Matthew Lawrence is hardcore Georgia! Love it!
Jul '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
From the article:
"a necropsy was performed on the animal by the Cornell Medical Institute, which confirmed it died by drowning."
Is that a joke? Will Cornell Law assign someone as executor of it's estate?
Jun '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Drowning is not a humane extermination method. How about just relocating the captured squirrels near the judge's house.
Aug '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Gruesome. I don't buy his excuse. Animal cruelty is a 'tell' that something much worse is lurking in his psyche.
If I were bothered by hungry squirrels I'd feed them.
If he'd shot them and used them for food, as Matthew recommends, that would be different.
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 10:51amAug '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Carla: You know what Otis ?
Otis: What ?
Carla: You're country.
Otis: That's all right.
Carla: You're straight from the Georgia woods.
Otis: That's good.
Carla: You know what ? You wear overalls and big old Brogan shoes,
and you need a haircut, tramp.
Otis Redding and Carla Thomas from the album King & Queen.
May '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Ah... but what was not revealed was whether the any of the squirrels gave up vital information that was instrumental in preventing further attacks on the house. Apparently that is still classified.
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 10:46amNov '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
First they say we can't drown squirrels, next they'll say we can't even waterboard them . . . it's a slippery slope!
Jun '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
I keep a .177 cal. airgun for vermin. It's totally silent, deadly, and not technically a firearm. But I'm with River on the drowning part. If you have to kill an animal, it should be done humanely.
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
I'm not without compassion so I understand your point.
But putting myself in the squirrels paws, were an alien to land here and tell me that he was going to eat me because he was hungry, but promised to kill me quick, I wouldn't think any better of him, no matter how much he insisted his compassion made him a better alien.
Either way, I'm still dead and I'm not happy about it.
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 10:58amMay '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Over to you, Claire.
Jun '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
I live in an urban area that fronts an ocean inlet and has a mountainous back yard. It is spectacularly beautiful. The mountains are forested and most are too steep to accommodate houses, so the forests accommodate bears, the rare mountain lion, and some coyotes. The coyotes generally roam the urban areas without causing much fuss although on occasion they tear pet cats and dog apart. This is no exaggeration. When the bears come down looking for food, they are usually trapped then driven a couple of hundred miles into the bush and released, likewise with the rare mountain lion. That said when the wildlife officers go out they are, to coin a phrase, loaded for bear. Anyone who is not afraid of a feral animal is either nuts or has not seen the damage they can do. Granted, no one is in fear for their life around a squirrel, but then again most of us have not seen the damage they can do.
In closing I would only add that one night I was walking from a friend's house to my car, the next day my friend told me of the bear that watched my progress.
Jun '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Drowning probably is cruel. At least when the local hawk swoops down and grabs the little squirrel by the spine, he'll give them a great scenic air trip, a short one, before landing again and ripping their throat out.
Nov '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Aw come on, how is drowning squirrels any worse than drowning kittens? Who here hasn't drowned a bag of kittens or puppies at some point?
The article Tommy linked to is just hilarious. "When I saw what he was doing, I immediately tapped loudly on the kitchen window, but he just ignored me." I can just SEE the entire scene, based on that one statement. I do feel for Mr. Colrick, but really, he HAD to know that he was pushing her just a bit too far.
Aug '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Why do y'all think drowning them is in humane? I never have but I know that people trap them in a hav-a-hart and submerge the trap in a trashcan filled with water.
I think I remember reading about Davy Crockett being such a good marksman that he would "bark" squirrels. That is, he'd shoot at the branch just under them, the bark would fly up, stunning them and they'd fall to the ground where I guess he'd wring their cute little necks.
Jun '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
I would only add that my friend did not shout out to me for fear of panicking the bear.
When I lived in Calgary, Alberta, I was told this story by a lawyer working for Parks Canada. She offered more detail than I can publicly share, but here is the gist: Parks Canada was being sued by the parents of a child that had been mauled by a black bear. It turned out that the parents wanted a cute picture of their daughter being licked by a bear, so they slathered the child's hands with honey. The problem, of course, was that the honey ran out before the bear was sated.
Sep '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
I don't know if animals have souls, but many species certainly feel pain just like humans do, and people killing them without reason or needlessly painfully should check the condition of their own soul.
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 11:25amRe: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
What's this mean? Is Claire an animal rights person?
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 11:23amRe: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Doug Lee
Aw come on, how is drowning squirrels any worse than drowning kittens? Who here hasn't drowned a bag of kittens or puppies at some point?
The article Tommy linked to is just hilarious. "When I saw what he was doing, I immediately tapped loudly on the kitchen window, but he just ignored me." I can just SEE the entire scene, based on that one statement. I do feel for Mr. Colrick, but really, he HAD to know that he was pushing her just a bit too far. · Nov 19 at 11:09am
Doug that's funny. I wondered about that too. I have a feeling there were problems in the Colrick house long before a squirrel bit Mr. C's siding.
Edited on Nov 19, 2010 at 11:26amNov '10
Re: Friday Fun: Drowning Squirrels
Matthew Lawrence: Why do y'all think drowning them is in humane? I never have but I know that people trap them in a hav-a-hart and submerge the trap in a trashcan filled with water.
I think I remember reading about Davy Crockett being such a good marksman that he would "bark" squirrels. That is, he'd shoot at the branch just under them, the bark would fly up, stunning them and they'd fall to the ground where I guess he'd wring their cute little necks. · Nov 19 at 11:12am
Davy Crockett was a real man, that's for sure.
Personally, I've never had to go after the squirrels in my yard like that. I've had to shoot rabbits and raccoons, though. I did trap some raccoons with the havahart type of trap -- they are nasty, vicious beasts, and my only regret now is that I "humanely" made them someone else's problem by relocating them to a different part of the island I lived on. Later I took to just shooting them, which was more effective and more fun (especially after they killed my fish).