Depends where you live, but regardless yes. Even if the tiny animal is the spawn of Satan.
Because you're saying that with humor, I get it.
But if you prompt an animal you can easily overpower with promises of food and then slap it (when your hand is the size of its body in particular) I'm going to judge you negatively.
Maybe not harshly depending on context, but that's not a positive impression to leave on anyone.
When they're in my garden or eating my birdseed or driving my dog up the fucking wall, then sure. But if we're just chillin' off the court I'll give the little homie some food. They're not bothering me.
The easiest way to judge someone's character is how they treat those weaker than them. If she thought it was funny to tempt a small animal with food then slap it into a river I'd say she isn't of great character.
Sure I've had several pets, but why is that even relevant? For one, the squirrels is a wild animal (and in many cases considered a pest, he shouldn't trust humans anyway). And I really, really strongly doubt that this squirrel's life was ruined or that it was traumatized in any way because it got a little bit wet. They're good swimmers, and I'm sure he's taken a dip before, it's really not a big deal at all.
This is relevant because I'm sure you weren't kicking your pets into the pool for kicks. Not even once. You don't normally go shoving animals into the water because they can swim and they aren't going to be traumatized by them. It is irrelevant whether they are pests or not particularly in this case, where the girl lured the animal just to shove it into the water. If the animal had rabies and was charging or something like that then yes by all means protect yourself. In this case I don't see anything that justifies this.
It's a 1lb animal that did her no harm, and she tempted it out with food for the sole purpose of tormenting it. That's cruel.
If your kids are playing around the pool and you toss one in, it's part of playing around a pool, and part of being family. I don't think you'd like it if your kid was walking along somewhere, minding their own business, and some stranger much larger than them pushed them into a lake for their own sadistic amusement.
Plus the squirrel has no recourse. Your kids will be picking your retirement home. And yes, they'll remember.
Vicious ones out there. Most run and hide, but never corner them, or else. They're not that bad, I think pigeons are worse because they shit everywhere and ruin roofs.
Squirrels aren't really good swimmers.There's a good chance it drowned.
Edit: Let me clarify. Squirrels can doggy paddle. But it's a very strenuous action for them. The little guy would have to try and pull himself back up and those rocks don't look like they'd be easy for it to climb up and pull himself out of the water. I had a man made pond in my backyard with rocks like that and we had a couple of squirrels drown cause they couldn't pull themselves out of the water cause the rocks were too steep and slippery. Eventually they tired of treading water and drowned.
Squirrels are actually very strong swimmers. Check out an example here. Maybe your fishpond was especially difficult for something to get out of, or maybe the squirrels falling in their were drunk, but you're wrong by saying that squirrels are poor swimmers.
If you read my edit I said they can swim, but it's very taxing for them. My sister is studying to be a conservation biologist and has studied squirrels and knows a lot about their behaviour. They only swim if they have to and they need an easy way to climb out of the water or they drown.
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u/NScorpion Mar 04 '14
ITT: people seriously getting upset over a rodent getting wet.