Photo by Caleb Martin
Social media erupted with rage last week over the killing of a beloved pet squirrel and racoon following a home invasion by “enforcement” agents of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The overzealous agents, tipped off by a neighbor who apparently didn’t even live in her New York apartment, allegedly obtained a search warrant from an accommodating judge, entered and ransacked the apartment, held the couple who owned the animals outside for five hours, and then removed the pets and had them killed, aka “euthanized.”
Pictures and videos flooded the internet of the young couple feeding nuts to their adorable ex-squirrel. They defended themselves, claiming that they were awaiting only the final approvals on paperwork filed with the state for a permit to keep the normally wild creatures as pets. The animals had been rescued by the couple and were unable to live in the wild, they said. Don’t get me wrong. The behavior of the NYSDEC agents and authorities of the law was inexcusable. As one commenter pointed out, it was not just about the squirrel, but about the heavy-handed abuse of people who were treated like “common criminals.” Another talked about how this incident “hit close to home” for her because she is a wildlife rehabilitator. She could be next.
Who are these outraged commenters? My unscientific survey of my Twitter feed suggests that they are mostly white people, almost none of whom I have seen in my feed before. The most rabid of them, almost surely Republicans, are making this incident the latest cause célèbre in the fight against “Big Government Overreach.”
I really have only one question for these people: What planet are you living on?
Spare us your righteous (White-eous?) indignation. Go home and read this list of the hundreds of unarmed Black people executed by police. Be thankful that the agents didn’t enter with guns blazing like they did with Breonna Taylor and countless others. Give a moment’s thought to the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children being slaughtered in the U.S.-sponsored genocide of Palestinians.
I’m suddenly reminded of a little figurine a pet store in Bronxville, New York, had (for all I know, it could still be there) depicting a dog peeing on the NFL quarterback Michael Vick. Racist to the core – long after Vick had apologized, made amends, and served 21 months in a federal prison for engaging in dog-fighting. When it comes to pets, there is no fury too great for America’s white people. When it comes to human victims, not so much.
It’s absolutely nuts.
