PtePike wrote:
"BAC" wrote in
:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-kind-Man-tol
d-pay-1-500-guilty-drowning-squirrel.html

I agree with the conviction this cruel, thoughtless man was awarded.

Is drowning vermin worthy of criminalisation? A criminal conviction is a
very serious matter. People seem to think these days that the cruel blunt
instrument of the Law should be used against anyone they just don't agree
with.

He seems to be in some eyes as the victim.

He's certainly the victim of the law, the RSPCA, and a neighbour who
presumably would have loved it under communism, or fascism, tipping off the
secret police about their neighbours.

"Whack it with a shovel" as the article said.
Of the two alternatives which is most humane?

Does it matter?

If the 2 alternatives were offered to end YOUR life, which would YOU
take?

Squirrels are not people. They have no conception of these issues, and we
cannot anthropomorphise opinions and feelings onto them. A squirrel cannot
reason and cannot be reasoned with. It also has no concept of rights, or
responsibilities.

Also, if I were creeping into your garden and stealing from your bird
feeders, I'd not be surprised if you whacked me with a shovel at some point.

My view is that we all have to kill either rats, squirrels, mice etc.
it's a way of life but do we HAVE to make them suffer?

Do we HAVE to *not* make them suffer? Suffering is part of the life of
vermin. My cat regularly brings vermin home to torture to death. I usually
hit them with something like a shoe- the rats and mice, not the cat. I do
not believe that any rational society- we are no longer one of those, mind
you- would place upon me responsibility for the care of rats, even arboreal
rats with fluffy tails. Rats don't care about me, and I don't care about
rats. It's all equal, really.

This is a mad decision representative of a society that has gone barmy.
Where do we go from here? Cats and dogs in the dock for their crimes against
rats and mice, or their owners? The latter wouldn't surprise me, in due
course; "It is the contention of the prosecution that the defendant Mr Jack
Smith did wilfully allow his cat Tiddles to break a mouse's leg so it would
run around in circles".

Many tuppence worth
PtePike

And mine


Ian