PETA recently mobilized activists to aid a squirrel in Kentucky who had been shot with a pellet gun, allegedly by a man who didn’t want squirrels in his yard. The activists found the squirrel suffering under a bush and rushed her to a veterinarian. The squirrel was paralyzed, and X-rays showed that a pellet was lodged near her spine, so the veterinarian mercifully ended her suffering.
The man who reportedly admitted to shooting the squirrel has been charged with violating an anti-cruelty ordinance and faces stiff fines and incarceration. If you don’t want squirrels in your yard, trimming tree branches away from your home and power lines, spraying plants and trees with pepper-based repellants, wrapping trees and poles with aluminum or plastic sheeting, and keeping trash tightly sealed are much more humane and effective than resorting to violence—and they’re less likely to result in a trip to the local lockup.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
