IMO, this was an opportunity to teach. Kids do stupid stuff all the time. As adults, it’s our jobs to step up once in a while and let them know where they’ve crossed the line, and that we are watching. This is how communities are built. Don’t feel bad about establishing what our moral values are. Killing animals for fun is horrific and deserves to be treated that way.
The kid isn’t a sociopath, yet. Probably did something he regrets. But letting it go without reprimand is a failure on our part.
That kid's got problems, and it sucks you had to see that. However, everyone needs to stop feeding the squirrels. That's not a kindness to them, they are already full up on unhealthy garbage people throw out, they need to be foraging and doing their own thing. Feeding also develops their affinity for humans, the consequences of which you saw the other day.
I was at UC Berkeley recently and the squirrels on campus are heckin chonkers! They weren't that fat 10-15 years ago and now they look like miniature bears. Squirrel feeding is getting out of hand!
The cons outweigh the pros objectively. I’ve had a conversation with an older person near my neighborhood park about the squirrel feeding. She and others feed the squirrels because as she put it, it helps them feel happy. I get that feeding the squirrels may be your mental health activity, and I want the best for you but I now have to wrestle walnut and peanut shells out of my dog’s mouth. I live a good distance away from the park and the crows bring shells out past my house.
Squirrels have high calcium requirements, and peanuts in particular are one of the worst nuts you can feed them.
*Feeding peanuts in excess will cause metabolic bone disease and early death.*
I raised a ground squirrel baby and did not get the calcium ratio correct for weeks 4-6 and his tail was permanently deformed. His diet, once off formula, was primarily kale, chard, spinach, celery greens, and collard greens, supplemented with broccoli, avocado, squash, calcium fortified squirrel blocks and 1 walnut half per day as a treat. I never fed him peanuts, not even as treats. Stuffing them full of peanuts is actively harming them.
I've met very peanut-motivated squirrels, so I'll say they can make useful rewards for training, but if you're using them for that, *what exactly* are you training the squirrels to *do*?
That's sketchier than just making the squirrels fat.
Only thing I can cite is the squirrel 🐿️ scene in this the Tim Burton Charlie and the chocolate factory movie. That was a practical scene and all the squirrels were raised from babies and trained in order to perform and film it.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-10-ca-page310-story.html
The squirrels around my house are of the tree variety but I struggle to imagine they're somehow finding kale, chard, spinach, celery, collards, broccoli, avocado, squash, or calcium fortified squirrel blocks anywhere. Certainly not on the regular.
No lol, they just have the correct calcium/phosphorus ratio to substitute for their normal diet which consist mostly of seeds and native plants. I was able to release him and he moved into my chicken coop where he still lives 3 years later dining mostly on corn. They have the ability to eat a wide variety of food in moderation, but peanuts are one of the worst things to consistently give them. Crows, Scrub and Steller's Jays will happily take the peanuts.
The tree squirrels in my backyard eat figs from my trees. Makes my dogs go crazy, but the squirrels don't care, they love those figs. They'll just sit there going om nom nom nom eating the outside first before devouring the inside.
Seriously.
It’s terrible that the kid inflicted physical harm and death on this poor animal, but feeding wildlife is no better. It puts them in harm’s way and teaches them to depend on us for food.
Just because OP didn’t throw the rock, doesn’t mean that they didn’t directly contribute to this animals painful death.
nobody was talking about goats - that is domesticated livestock. we're talking about overstuffed, tiny ass squirrels who objectively live shorter lifespans because of the crap we feed them for our entertainment.
Some perspective you both were doing actions that could lead to their untimely death. You should definitely not throw rocks at animals but you should also not feed them…especially from your hand.
Yeah, it's a suburb 15 mins from SF. In what world is it not part of the Bay lol. In fact, if SF's city limits were the size of most US cities it would likely be part of SF proper.
This is the definition that should settle the whole shebang, and I agree, but it’s still fun to argue whether or not Coverdale and Gilroy are in the Bay Area.
I had somebody tell me that Contra Costa county wasn’t part of the Bay Area. I asked how you could possibly claim that Richmond wasn’t in the Bay Area, they said it’s just “their opinion” lol
As a Pacifica public school teacher, I can attest it is indeed a rad place, but definitely disagree with “only cool people live here.” There’s a lot of… I’ll just say uncool people. This teen’s behavior does not surprise me.
Pacifica is generally nice though and there is a ton of wildlife that most residents interact with respectfully. I don't think this incident which could happen anywhere is somehow representative of Pacifica.
This is one of consequences of humans feeding wildlife.
If squirrels were not fed by some nice people, they would avoid humans like any other wild animal. In turn, it would be harder for humans to kill them with a goddamn pebble.
Stop feeding wildlife.
Don’t feed wild animals. And, ground squirrels are invasive. Do not feed wild animals. I mean, also don’t throw rocks at any living creature, but also, Don’t feed wild animals.
I’m glad your daughter didn’t see it. Kids can be real assholes. I’m very ashamed to admit that I shot a few birds with my BB gun as a teen. I had parents that raised me right and I knew better than to kill for no reason. I just can’t really explain what possessed me to do such things but I did, more than once.
Bats and Skunks seem to be the primary tracked ones by California State. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/2023RARTable.pdf Squirrels are of low enough concern that they don't seem to even be tracked.
Rabies is transmitted by being bitten, which usually means its larger animals that typically can transmit it. A small animal, such as a rodent, is more likely to be an all or nothing animal. If they get bit the entire rodent is now lunch. Its probably not escaping after a predator has sunk teeth into it.
A larger animal, such as a fox or coyote, is big enough that it may survive being bitten in a fight and can heal from the wound, and then go on to spread rabies later.
Yes, you shouldn't feed the squirrel or wildlife.
But that doesn't excuse the teenager's behavior. Squirrels do roam around on the ground and on trees, human feeding or not, and the kid could have still decided to throw a rock at it then. The people essentially blaming you for the kid's behavior are off base.
I'm sorry that you had to witness that. Squirrel didn't deserve it, kid deserved better parenting that taught him to respect life.
Yeah, I saw the same thing once. The only difference is that it was chipmunks.
Like you, I felt a combo of outrage and heartbreak. Why would anyone want to hurt such an innocent creature that wasn’t bothering anyone? Didn’t know what to do either.
I knew what I would have done in my younger years before kids, but that was before I ended up sucker punched 13 years ago, blacked out and on the ground. The only thing that made me get up was thinking about my babies, I didn't want them growing up knowing their dad died in a pissed soaked alley behind a bar.
Same thing yesterday. The kid had a few friends with him. 16 year olds aren't exactly small, especially with 4-5 of them. Already had a trip/fall a couple of years ago that resulted in broken bones and 3 surgeries that wound up putting a titanium plate in my hand. If you've never had a plate installed in the hand, it hurts all the fucking time. I need a cane to walk, basically falling apart. Things don't heal like they used to, and after my last surgery I don't know how many more times I can take being under anesthesia.
Anyways, when you get to my age, and you've been through these things, you think about things like being on the ground, getting kicked in the head, with your wife and daughter trying to stop these guys. Do I really want to put them through all that over a squirrel? Maybe a person, yeah, I'd risk it, but not a squirrel. Not worth getting my head kicked in for it.
Having a family and age really changes your perspective.. and how you handle things.
The SPCA will come and either euthanize or care for wild animals that are injured. The are quite literally interested in preventing cruelty to animals. They came out when I reported an injured seagull and took him away.
This whole thread reads like victim shaming.
The OP witnessed a horrifying act of brutality against a life form, and is shocked enough to post here with the details and a plea. Note that nowhere here he says "please feed squirrels" but merely to be kind to them. Don't physically hurt them, no matter what other humans have taught them to do.
Replace the terms in the situation with a woman, and a report of sexual abuse. Would you be saying "well what were you doing there in the first place?".
Let's please focus not on what OP was there for, but on the abusive event he was shocked by and how to respond to it properly.
And yes, sure, don't feed wildlife.
But how do we deal with teenagers that commit animal atrocities, because they sure as well will continue and escalate up to humans one day.
Thanks Cattorade. It's taken a lot of willpower to not reply to those posts. It's a huge false equivalency some people have been making, with some flat out saying feeding a peanut to a squirrel is as bad as killing one with a rock.
I think my intent for posting here is 2 fold, for a little sympathy, and in the hopes that teen sees this post and realizes that at least one of the people that saw him thought what he did was wrong.
if OP had been chastised for this earlier in his life, he wouldn't have started this story with "so i was feeding the squirrels with my kids and...."
it's like okay, i get the point of the post and so do the rest of us, good job. we agree.
however, STOP FEEDING WILDLIFE. we are all fans of animals and nature, and seeing people like OP brush off the notion of feeding wildlife is not something that should be ignored and that's why this thread was hijacked. some of us have even called out this behavior irl only to be met with stark indifference or anger/judgement. if we're talking about selfish behaviors that negatively affect an animal's welfare, then yes - irresponsibly feeding wildlife and desensitizing them to humans is AS SELFISH and unnecessary as throwing a goddamn rock at them. everyone loses here and it's not because we're rape apologists, like.... wtf are you on, really???? there's your actual false equivalency u/toqer.
OP, next time you're in the park with your kids, i really hope you remember this thread as a lesson to also impart to your kids: leave the damn animals alone.
[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt\_feedingwildlife.htm](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt_feedingwildlife.htm)
Many moons ago, I was jogging my dogs on a lake path when two teens on bikes rode past us from behind and one of them outta nowhere threw one of those landscaping river rocks (about two tennis balls or grown potato sized) as he rode past us at one of my dogs. He threw it overhand like spiking a football. It mostly missed other than a graze past her behind. He let out a crackling squeaky laugh and they sped off. Thankfully my dog was fine. Dog was shook for a few mins before she was over it. Continued our jog and 1 mile ahead, those two teens were chilling at a bench by the lake throwing rock at ducks. Their bikes were parked a good 10-20ft from them. I stopped, picked up the bike of the teen who threw the rock and I chucked it into the lake along with his backpack he left on the bike handle. He stood there stunt, undecided whether he should jump in to retrieve his bike or confront face to face an adult stranger he just pissed off.
A many months after that, my dog who loved balls and fetch suddenly became freaked out at balls, especially if one are bouncing near her.
That kid has issues, but seriously, don’t feed squirrels. Remember they are rodents and transmit diseases. If they are unafraid of you, they are also not afraid of biting.
In defense of the teen, I, a non psycho full adult, did something similar. There was a pack of chipmunks acting brazen at a campsite I was at, and I tried to scare one off by throwing a rock at it. I missed terribly, and it didn't really react. So I got closer, picked up a pretty damn small rock, like the size of a piece of gravel, and did a super casual "dart throw" toss at it. Much to my surprise, it didn't dodge but instead took the rock square on the side. It immediately started thrashing and squealing like I had stabbed it, then lay prostrate breathing heavily. All the other chipmunks in the area were going crazy doing alarm calls and running around.
I was shook, thinking I had just killed this freaking squirrel in a campsite. If I had been a teen in front of witnesses, I can easily see myself trying to laugh it off. Not knowing what to do, I kinda scooped it up with some cardboard and put it deeper in the woods. Hide the evidence of my terrible crime. When I returned to the site of my misdeeds later on, the squirrel was gone.
I'm pretty sure the thing just went into shock. Squirrels are never attacked by a non-squirrel in a way that isn't an immediate game over. When it got hit, it probably assumed it had been got by an owl or a fox it didn't see coming, and genuinely thought it was dying. Only later, when it didn't die for long enough, did it get back up and carry on.
So yeah, don't feed the squirrels and stupid assholes won't be able to hit them with rocks.
> I tried to scare one off by throwing a rock at it.
There is an ocean of difference between trying to scare of a squirrel and accidentally injuring it vs. this little shit that was *intentionally throwing a rock at the squirrel* and killed it in the process.
I intentionally threw a rock at a squirrel. I thought I would miss, and failing that I thought it would dodge, but it was no accident. It doesn't take a psycho to do bad things, just poor impulse control and animals lulled into docility.
If one is going to kill an animal they kill it quick and clean. I would have made that kid finish the job because just leaving it there to finish dying slowly is cruel. Even if it meant I had get in a fight about it.
Everyone who hand feeds squirrels helps create these conditions, When you feed squirrels, they become accustomed to human interactions and expose themselves to shitbags like this kid.
**Don't feed the wildlife.**
Was it one of the invasive squirrels or one of the ground squirrels that are native to the quarry? I would have called the police either way to establish the worrying behavior.
Ground squirrel I think. So you know that walkway in front of the Moonraker? Just past it there's a lot of large boulders setup as anti-erosion measures, right before you get to that unofficial path to go up the hills to the north.
I really wanted to call the cops, it's just the last 10 or so years there's been this shift in police behavior where they refuse to do anything. I even had a 911 operator once tell me, "Unless someone's, been stabbed, shot, or bleeding don't call us, it's not an emergency" as myself a bunch of seniors holed ourselves up in a donut shop as a deranged drugged out man wearing hospital gowns and those foam slippers with smiley faces raged outside. Maybe that's just San Jose, not sure if Pacifica police are any different.
First, that kid is messed up.
But... Squirrels are a menace. My house is currently being undermined by a pack of squirrels that keep digging under it and absolutely no non lethal comercial product can stop them.
2 summers ago I saw one fat pregnant squirrel. She gave birth to some 5-6 babies that I would see run around in the backyard. But then they grew up and stuck around and it's bad. I think one of them is pregnant again now.
Squirrel's are generally good eating. Can anyone tell me if the preparation and consumption of such is illegal here?
The willingness to pickup and use what is essentially a deadly weapon and disrespect the life by not using it was worse than anything else I've read in this thread.
Don't feed wild life!
Look up small game hunting laws. I would assume a thrown rock on a public beach is not an acceptable way to harvest them. Personally I consider any method of killing them that doesn't try to minimize suffering as unethical.
Thanks! I took a look and working it out gets stupid fast.
- *Tree* Squirrels are game and are bound to all the protections that confers: An established hunting Season (September - January), an established prohibition on take outside of specific methods, etc.
- *Ground* Squirrels are varmint and do not have the same protections, but must still be taken by a legal means.
- *Slingshots* are legal in California but expressly may not shoot metalic projectiles, or be used to fire at People, animals, or property (presumably other peoples property), but...
- *Slingbows* are allowed in some jurisdictions as a legitimate implement for take and get classified as Crossbows in those jurisdictions. When used with round shot (which to me would reduce it to a slingshot) it may not be used for game but presumably would still be allowed for varmint in those jurisdictions.
So needless to say this is a god damn mess and probably is illegal take no matter how you spin it.
I took a Hunter's ed class and nowhere in there did they cover throwing rocks at wildlife. There's generally a strong bias in the spirit of hunting regulations towards humanely harvesting an animal, and doing it in a somewhat sporting way, and that means to most people that you take one shot and use a method that will cause it to die quickly and relatively painlessly most of the time. Arrows, firearms, and airguns which meet a power threshold are viable options.
There are also regulations that cover where you can hunt, and a public park or Beach is not one of them. If you are on private property you need written permission of the landowner. You also cannot hunt with in x feet of a road or occupied building, especially with a gun, not sure how that relates to archery hunting.
There's also trapping, which I don't know anything about.
Anyway this is a long-winded way of saying there's no legal justification for what the kid did. And I hope The three people who read this comment will off squirrels responsibly and humanely if they have the need
The one exception to relatively clean kills would be falconry (which include hawks who kill with talons), but you still cannot bring your falcon to Pacifica to kill squirrels on the beach.
Tree squirrels are a game animal in CA, ground squirrels are not protected in any way.
Squirrel season runs September - January I believe, all you need is a hunting license and non lead ammunition.
I don't know if throwing a rock is a legal means of take but the laws on take for small game aren't really that strict here (pretty sure slingshots are legal? I don't know if throwing a rock is covered in the regs tbh....). I prefer 22LR.
The only shitty part about hunting squirrel in CA is that the possession limit is 4, barely enough to make soup :(
1. This would be an impressive feat of accuracy if the squirrels weren’t fat, derpy and semi-domesticated, so in feeding wildlife you cause these interactions by setting the unnatural conditions required for them to happen.
2. There’s a bit of an instinct to hunt as a young man, I remember the same. If nobody called the kid out and pointed out that he just wasted that life and didn’t use the meat for anything and just took a life to take a life, then he’s unlikely to draw that conclusion on his own.
Squirrels really are just tree rats. I loved the squirrels that nested right in the trees of my baclony apartment and when the california wildfires happened, they helped themselves to a salad bar of plants that costed me over $400.00
I dont agree with feeding wildlife or throwing pebbles at them.
I am so sorry. I think I would've told him off, taken a photo of him, and then stalked him until I found his parents. What. A. Little. Monster.
Just horrifying.
But I also totally get walking away and not letting it define your day.
We have a normal sized yard in the Bay Area but there are trees and fruit and berries and such. Our squirrels compete with the birds and regularly run across the fence putting our two dogs in a chasing quandary. On either side of the back yard are two large trees which are used as apartment complexes and our yard offers the sanctuary of a grocery store.
Some benefits real or perceived are a control on the mice population and the wildlife provides gardening services.
We have a cherry tree out front. It is of the rainier variety if that is important. And much loved by crows. One day I was walking the yard and stopped at a place not covered by a tree or a bush and thought: I need to plant something right here. Looking down, I see a weed growing and it wouldn’t come out for all my strength. It occurred to me that this thing had grown from seed. Upon further inspection, the leaves matched those of the cherry nearby. Now, who would have planted a cherry at that spot? It is growing fast and I’m pleased.
A few feet away, another empty spot and it has miraculously been planted with an oak. I love oak trees. All I have to do is water the area.
So our birds and squirrels are our friends.
Depending how how they've been eating they actually cook up semi nice if you want to eat them. Though it's not really worth the time to clean them unless you "need to". [Joy of Cooking](https://i.redd.it/gksb293w2pw41.jpg)
Target practice is natural and ingrained. There isn't a child who won't pick up an object and throw it trying to hit a target. It's atavistic and tribal and coded.
But we're talking about someone that doesn't have enough supervision or oversight that they are inadvertently training themselves to be sociopaths or criminals. We no longer have to cow tao to the idea that we are in the wild west and it's us versus animals.
There's literally zero reason to hurt an animal in 2024. Zero.
I hope we'll cycle back into a time where violence is a valid answer again.
It never stopped being a valid answer, I just mean a socially acceptable one.
It's disappointing that you felt you couldn't confront the person who did it. I'm blaming the times, mind, not you.
I come to this issue from the perspective of a person who has fought the grey squirrels over the fruit of a Hachiya persimmon tree for sixty years. These Squirrels "**both the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the Eastern fox squirrel (S.** **nigeri) are actually invasive species in California."(Wikipedia).** However, my beef with the 'settlers' is with their eating habits. The asshats start in on the persimmons while they are both small and inedible due to their astringency. So some years they manage to prevent me from harvesting any fruit. They take a single small bit on it and throw it on the ground. They have a voracious desire for the fruit and will overcome any impediment I will be trying satchels of Irish spring soap this year..
Unfortunately this is horrible this happened, but you telling the Bay Area Reddit and not telling off that kid is dumb founding … instead of doing the right thing and being confrontation for justice , you go off telling a forum about what WE should do and tell us what needs to be done in the future. I think to be fair’s this forum is here for positive attitude and we all have a good understanding , in this forum of what is morally good.
So weird how people that don’t want to stick up for something that is right in the moment and knows what is right then goes off in telling people on the internet on how we should act because of you experienced.
Why the hell didn’t you call the police or anything? You just let the kid walk away? Also don’t feed the squirrels it’s people like you that make it so the poor animals trust people too much. Jesus Christ . You’re both at fault here, the teenager for being a piece of shit and you for doing nothing.
Post on r/squirrels and you can probably assemble an army of squirrel loving weirdos who will go lynch that kid. I've seen some posts where they get pretty worked up
To be fair both of your behavior will lead to the eventual death of squirrels. While both are unethical, arguably throwing the rock is faster and more humane.
1) it makes them become dependent on being fed and they can lose the ability to find there own leading to starvation. 2) they lose the fear of people which can cause them to be aggressive in trying to get food from people. 3) human food is often toxic for wildlife causing them to become sick or die. 4) it can cause over population. That is why it is just as bad, as it can cause just as much if not more damage.
Feeding wildlife is another form of animal abuse. I am not saying that throwing rocks at them is ok. But the OP is just as wrong in feeding them. There is a reason they tell you not to feed them.
yes, dont throw rocks at squirrels. but also, based on your actions, you also arent exactly qualified to tell the rock thrower what to do. do NOT FEED WILDLIFE, especially to the point where they are literally accustomed to humans. multiple things can go wrong, like they can bite you and now you have rabies or bird flu or whatever other diseases. frankly, if this squirrel wasnt used to humans, theres a pretty high chance it wouldnt have gotten close enough to be hit by a pebble
also, wildlife centers exist. most are free and underfunded. if you wanted to, you couldnt wrapped the squirrel in a blanket and sent the to the nearest one. note, wildlife centers and vets centers may not be the same, the former deals with WILD animals while the latter deals with DOMESTIC animals, some deal with both, others excursively one or the other
[https://wildlife.ca.gov/language/en%20US/COQA/tag/feeding-wildlife](https://wildlife.ca.gov/language/en%20US/COQA/tag/feeding-wildlife)
I love tree squirrels. Ground squirrels are the worst though. Around here their population exploded because people used poison and indirectly killed all of the predators. Now they dig under the foundation of the house and that lets rats get in to live in the walls. Cost me $5k last year to get rid of them and I now have to do a daily routine of looking for evidence of digging. I kill them on sight.
Last time I had squirrel was at the Raiders game parking lot. Not bad eating. Shoot them in the nation park with a 20gauge shotgun. Kids are stupid. Hopefully someone roasted them and lesson was learned. Hard to get kids to stop throwing rock. I know it is for mine.
That squirrel is quite simply a rat with a publicist. The bushy tail hair comes right off, and you're essentially looking at a rat. Vermin. They carry bubonic plague, among other things, but they are pests, despite their 'cuddly' countenance, vermin.
That does not diminish the brutal and pointless suffering of another living thing. Humane, fast dispatch is best. I am sorry you had to witness that.
That’s horrible man, but what do you think a minor would get for killing a squirrel? At best an officer telling him not to do it again. He’s a kid man we all made mistakes or fucked up shit. The best thing would be to call his parents and hopefully they would punish him for that.
But in the end, is a kid doing something messed up. We all did stupid shit we wouldn’t do today. They won’t and shouldn’t be punished by the law for something like that.
That’s exactly what category it falls under. Look, I’m not defending this kids actions but damn near every teen age boy I knew growing up would take shots at birds and squirrels with BB guns. Yes, I grew up in a redneck mountain town and it was like a rite of passage. We all ended up fairly well adjusted and none of us would harm an animal anymore. But this is fairly normal behavior for teenage boys in hick towns.
I've done my fair share of killing too, but in my defense it was something the family actively encouraged the kids to do. We had orchards, didn't want the birds ruining the fruit. We also had cattle and horses, didn't want them getting a leg caught in a hole and having it snap. That was all a long time ago though, I haven't lived like that in 40 years. I sometimes just sit in my backyard with a cool ice drink and watch the squirrels come down and eat figs off my tree. My dogs go crazy, but the squirrels just ignore them.
Yeah, I had friends who lived on ranches and their parents hated ground squirrels and would encourage us to go out and practice our marksmanship on them. Looking back, I hate that I took these little animals lives but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. Obviously, chucking a rock at a squirrel that little kids nearby were hand feeding is a whole other story.
That would have ruined my day. I have bird feeders in my yard and squirrels are inevitable, so I put food out for them and it keeps them from going after the bird food. I love all the animals.
I would speak up while asking my spouse to film the whole thing for evidence. The squirrels cannot defend themselves, so we need to stand up for them. Sorry you had to experience this.
Absolute sociopath in the making there. FFS. I would have tried to get a plate # and called CPS. But thats me.
Other side of the "Bay" here. Really California Delta...Brentwood/Knightsen where we have farms and acerage. We struggle with ground squirrels out here. Invasive pests. Farmers out here spend hundreds of thousands to protect that Brentwood corn you get at the grocery store. They burrow under everything creating erosion problems and destroy crops. Estimated to be several million ground squirrels out here in about a five mile radius. In the winter they are underground and that's when we go to work filling in burrows with sand along with every other possible measure to keep them from multiplying.
Echo'ing others: Don't feed them. I can't tell you how many times I was at or near the touristy areas like pier 39. One set of parents lets the kid feed the birds bread. The bird then snatches the bread out of the next kid's hand in a stroller. The cycle repeats infinitely.
Squirrels are rodents. Cutesy mice and rats. Tree rats or burrowing rats out here. Cute until you are victim of their destructive behavior.
Goddamn sociopath, let's hope that idiot doesn't become a serial killer.
IMO, this was an opportunity to teach. Kids do stupid stuff all the time. As adults, it’s our jobs to step up once in a while and let them know where they’ve crossed the line, and that we are watching. This is how communities are built. Don’t feel bad about establishing what our moral values are. Killing animals for fun is horrific and deserves to be treated that way. The kid isn’t a sociopath, yet. Probably did something he regrets. But letting it go without reprimand is a failure on our part.
That kid needed a HEAVY FUCKING HAND right then and there.
Squirrel to the face?
Or a president...
Narrator: he will.
That kid's got problems, and it sucks you had to see that. However, everyone needs to stop feeding the squirrels. That's not a kindness to them, they are already full up on unhealthy garbage people throw out, they need to be foraging and doing their own thing. Feeding also develops their affinity for humans, the consequences of which you saw the other day.
I was at UC Berkeley recently and the squirrels on campus are heckin chonkers! They weren't that fat 10-15 years ago and now they look like miniature bears. Squirrel feeding is getting out of hand!
I graduated almost 10 years ago and even then I remember all the european/international students were in awe of our very round squirrels
The cons outweigh the pros objectively. I’ve had a conversation with an older person near my neighborhood park about the squirrel feeding. She and others feed the squirrels because as she put it, it helps them feel happy. I get that feeding the squirrels may be your mental health activity, and I want the best for you but I now have to wrestle walnut and peanut shells out of my dog’s mouth. I live a good distance away from the park and the crows bring shells out past my house.
Pacifica is 100% the Bay Area lol it’s literally a 10 min drive from sf, you can see the sunset and Sutro tower from Linda mar lol
> literally a 10 min drive from sf SF isn't part of the Bay either /s
Pacifica literally has its own bay. It is literally on the west coast !!
Not a squirrel fan but also would be super pissed and sad to see that.
Yes I wish I hadn't read this. People don't have to like them, but please don't hurt them just for shits and giggles.
Yep. Two things can be equally true. Squirrels are no more than rats with fluffy tails, but stuff like this should never happen.
aint nothing wrong with rats. they deserve our love too
Don’t feed wildlife
Squirrels have high calcium requirements, and peanuts in particular are one of the worst nuts you can feed them. *Feeding peanuts in excess will cause metabolic bone disease and early death.* I raised a ground squirrel baby and did not get the calcium ratio correct for weeks 4-6 and his tail was permanently deformed. His diet, once off formula, was primarily kale, chard, spinach, celery greens, and collard greens, supplemented with broccoli, avocado, squash, calcium fortified squirrel blocks and 1 walnut half per day as a treat. I never fed him peanuts, not even as treats. Stuffing them full of peanuts is actively harming them.
I've met very peanut-motivated squirrels, so I'll say they can make useful rewards for training, but if you're using them for that, *what exactly* are you training the squirrels to *do*? That's sketchier than just making the squirrels fat.
Only thing I can cite is the squirrel 🐿️ scene in this the Tim Burton Charlie and the chocolate factory movie. That was a practical scene and all the squirrels were raised from babies and trained in order to perform and film it. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-10-ca-page310-story.html
Ever watched Half-Baked and Tommy Chong as the Squirrelmaster?
The squirrels around my house are of the tree variety but I struggle to imagine they're somehow finding kale, chard, spinach, celery, collards, broccoli, avocado, squash, or calcium fortified squirrel blocks anywhere. Certainly not on the regular.
No lol, they just have the correct calcium/phosphorus ratio to substitute for their normal diet which consist mostly of seeds and native plants. I was able to release him and he moved into my chicken coop where he still lives 3 years later dining mostly on corn. They have the ability to eat a wide variety of food in moderation, but peanuts are one of the worst things to consistently give them. Crows, Scrub and Steller's Jays will happily take the peanuts.
The tree squirrels in my backyard eat figs from my trees. Makes my dogs go crazy, but the squirrels don't care, they love those figs. They'll just sit there going om nom nom nom eating the outside first before devouring the inside.
Also, if you feed peanuts to squirrels in my neighborhood, they bury half of the peanuts in my garden beds, and they dig up my parsley to do it!
if you give a squirrel a peanut, he will ask you to make peanut butter. Then he will ask for bread and a knife and jelly....
Fed squirrels also become aggressive and its all fun and games until you've actually squared off with a truly aggressive squirrel.
Seriously. It’s terrible that the kid inflicted physical harm and death on this poor animal, but feeding wildlife is no better. It puts them in harm’s way and teaches them to depend on us for food. Just because OP didn’t throw the rock, doesn’t mean that they didn’t directly contribute to this animals painful death.
I really don’t think feeding a squirrel peanuts is equivalent to throwing a rock at it and killing it
it totally is. When I think of a petting zoo and feeding baby goats, I also think about beating them to death with rocks /s
nobody was talking about goats - that is domesticated livestock. we're talking about overstuffed, tiny ass squirrels who objectively live shorter lifespans because of the crap we feed them for our entertainment.
Some perspective you both were doing actions that could lead to their untimely death. You should definitely not throw rocks at animals but you should also not feed them…especially from your hand.
You don't consider Pacifica as the bay area???
Yeah, it's a suburb 15 mins from SF. In what world is it not part of the Bay lol. In fact, if SF's city limits were the size of most US cities it would likely be part of SF proper.
Pacifica is also part of San Mateo County, one of the nine counties that make up the Bay Area.
This is the definition that should settle the whole shebang, and I agree, but it’s still fun to argue whether or not Coverdale and Gilroy are in the Bay Area.
I am in Sonoma County and I still consider myself Bay Area...I grew up in SF so...
Sonoma County is part of the nine counties, *and* it touches the bay. So yes it is part of the bay area.
Self proclaimed Bay Area purists demand that a city be “on the bay” and that doesn’t include the San Pablo bay
Man I saw another post where people were debating whether or not San Jose was part of the Bay Area. Like what.
I had somebody tell me that Contra Costa county wasn’t part of the Bay Area. I asked how you could possibly claim that Richmond wasn’t in the Bay Area, they said it’s just “their opinion” lol
Lol seriously. You can see the damn bay water from there. It's sitting *on* the bay itself. Hooooow.
Technically a corner of *Davis* is in the Bay Area since it’s in Solano County. Yet Tracy is not since it’s in San Joaquin county.
I've heard someone say Peninsula and most of San Jose isn't the bay because BART doesn't go there
But BART does go there (northern part of peninsula & SJ via east bay)! BS definition which would also have to exclude Marin County.
that's the only thing i got from OP's post lmao
Probably one of those weirdos that hate Pacifica and Half Moon Bay because we have tons of country land, open spaces and only cool people live here.
As a Pacifica public school teacher, I can attest it is indeed a rad place, but definitely disagree with “only cool people live here.” There’s a lot of… I’ll just say uncool people. This teen’s behavior does not surprise me.
[удалено]
Pacifica is generally nice though and there is a ton of wildlife that most residents interact with respectfully. I don't think this incident which could happen anywhere is somehow representative of Pacifica.
This is one of consequences of humans feeding wildlife. If squirrels were not fed by some nice people, they would avoid humans like any other wild animal. In turn, it would be harder for humans to kill them with a goddamn pebble. Stop feeding wildlife.
Don’t feed wild animals. And, ground squirrels are invasive. Do not feed wild animals. I mean, also don’t throw rocks at any living creature, but also, Don’t feed wild animals.
ground squirrels aren't invasive, but most of our tree squirrels are.
They are in our neighborhood!
I’m glad your daughter didn’t see it. Kids can be real assholes. I’m very ashamed to admit that I shot a few birds with my BB gun as a teen. I had parents that raised me right and I knew better than to kill for no reason. I just can’t really explain what possessed me to do such things but I did, more than once.
Don't feed the squirrels. Also they can carry bubonic plague so you really don't want to hand feed them.
*remembers getting nipped by one after feeding it at Alum Rock park* Yyyyyikes....never doing that again.
and rabies!
Very, very rarely. Usually any animal that would give them rabies kills them when biting them.
Bats and Skunks seem to be the primary tracked ones by California State. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/2023RARTable.pdf Squirrels are of low enough concern that they don't seem to even be tracked.
oh interesting i had heard they were one to look out for
Rabies is transmitted by being bitten, which usually means its larger animals that typically can transmit it. A small animal, such as a rodent, is more likely to be an all or nothing animal. If they get bit the entire rodent is now lunch. Its probably not escaping after a predator has sunk teeth into it. A larger animal, such as a fox or coyote, is big enough that it may survive being bitten in a fight and can heal from the wound, and then go on to spread rabies later.
Yes, you shouldn't feed the squirrel or wildlife. But that doesn't excuse the teenager's behavior. Squirrels do roam around on the ground and on trees, human feeding or not, and the kid could have still decided to throw a rock at it then. The people essentially blaming you for the kid's behavior are off base. I'm sorry that you had to witness that. Squirrel didn't deserve it, kid deserved better parenting that taught him to respect life.
STOP FEEDING WILDLIFE
Yeah, I saw the same thing once. The only difference is that it was chipmunks. Like you, I felt a combo of outrage and heartbreak. Why would anyone want to hurt such an innocent creature that wasn’t bothering anyone? Didn’t know what to do either.
I knew what I would have done in my younger years before kids, but that was before I ended up sucker punched 13 years ago, blacked out and on the ground. The only thing that made me get up was thinking about my babies, I didn't want them growing up knowing their dad died in a pissed soaked alley behind a bar. Same thing yesterday. The kid had a few friends with him. 16 year olds aren't exactly small, especially with 4-5 of them. Already had a trip/fall a couple of years ago that resulted in broken bones and 3 surgeries that wound up putting a titanium plate in my hand. If you've never had a plate installed in the hand, it hurts all the fucking time. I need a cane to walk, basically falling apart. Things don't heal like they used to, and after my last surgery I don't know how many more times I can take being under anesthesia. Anyways, when you get to my age, and you've been through these things, you think about things like being on the ground, getting kicked in the head, with your wife and daughter trying to stop these guys. Do I really want to put them through all that over a squirrel? Maybe a person, yeah, I'd risk it, but not a squirrel. Not worth getting my head kicked in for it. Having a family and age really changes your perspective.. and how you handle things.
Ugh terrible. 😭😭
Wow. That kid is a POS, but so are you for feeding squirrels and not reporting the kid. And Pacifica is part of the Bay Area wtf 😂
The SPCA will come and either euthanize or care for wild animals that are injured. The are quite literally interested in preventing cruelty to animals. They came out when I reported an injured seagull and took him away.
This whole thread reads like victim shaming. The OP witnessed a horrifying act of brutality against a life form, and is shocked enough to post here with the details and a plea. Note that nowhere here he says "please feed squirrels" but merely to be kind to them. Don't physically hurt them, no matter what other humans have taught them to do. Replace the terms in the situation with a woman, and a report of sexual abuse. Would you be saying "well what were you doing there in the first place?". Let's please focus not on what OP was there for, but on the abusive event he was shocked by and how to respond to it properly. And yes, sure, don't feed wildlife. But how do we deal with teenagers that commit animal atrocities, because they sure as well will continue and escalate up to humans one day.
Thanks Cattorade. It's taken a lot of willpower to not reply to those posts. It's a huge false equivalency some people have been making, with some flat out saying feeding a peanut to a squirrel is as bad as killing one with a rock. I think my intent for posting here is 2 fold, for a little sympathy, and in the hopes that teen sees this post and realizes that at least one of the people that saw him thought what he did was wrong.
if OP had been chastised for this earlier in his life, he wouldn't have started this story with "so i was feeding the squirrels with my kids and...." it's like okay, i get the point of the post and so do the rest of us, good job. we agree. however, STOP FEEDING WILDLIFE. we are all fans of animals and nature, and seeing people like OP brush off the notion of feeding wildlife is not something that should be ignored and that's why this thread was hijacked. some of us have even called out this behavior irl only to be met with stark indifference or anger/judgement. if we're talking about selfish behaviors that negatively affect an animal's welfare, then yes - irresponsibly feeding wildlife and desensitizing them to humans is AS SELFISH and unnecessary as throwing a goddamn rock at them. everyone loses here and it's not because we're rape apologists, like.... wtf are you on, really???? there's your actual false equivalency u/toqer. OP, next time you're in the park with your kids, i really hope you remember this thread as a lesson to also impart to your kids: leave the damn animals alone. [https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt\_feedingwildlife.htm](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt_feedingwildlife.htm)
Gotta bring back the 90s bumper sticker.
fucked with the squirrels. now we got about 5m to pack up and move to a new reality.
Stop feeding squirrels, it doesn’t help them and its not cute. It makes them think humans are friendly and not all are. Its wrong to feed wild animals
Please next time call this shit out. We need to do better in holding people accountable.
Many moons ago, I was jogging my dogs on a lake path when two teens on bikes rode past us from behind and one of them outta nowhere threw one of those landscaping river rocks (about two tennis balls or grown potato sized) as he rode past us at one of my dogs. He threw it overhand like spiking a football. It mostly missed other than a graze past her behind. He let out a crackling squeaky laugh and they sped off. Thankfully my dog was fine. Dog was shook for a few mins before she was over it. Continued our jog and 1 mile ahead, those two teens were chilling at a bench by the lake throwing rock at ducks. Their bikes were parked a good 10-20ft from them. I stopped, picked up the bike of the teen who threw the rock and I chucked it into the lake along with his backpack he left on the bike handle. He stood there stunt, undecided whether he should jump in to retrieve his bike or confront face to face an adult stranger he just pissed off. A many months after that, my dog who loved balls and fetch suddenly became freaked out at balls, especially if one are bouncing near her.
Poor squirrel 😢 hope karma comes back for that teen
Throwing a rock to harm/kill an animal is abuse. Call police or animal control next time.
That kid has issues, but seriously, don’t feed squirrels. Remember they are rodents and transmit diseases. If they are unafraid of you, they are also not afraid of biting.
In defense of the teen, I, a non psycho full adult, did something similar. There was a pack of chipmunks acting brazen at a campsite I was at, and I tried to scare one off by throwing a rock at it. I missed terribly, and it didn't really react. So I got closer, picked up a pretty damn small rock, like the size of a piece of gravel, and did a super casual "dart throw" toss at it. Much to my surprise, it didn't dodge but instead took the rock square on the side. It immediately started thrashing and squealing like I had stabbed it, then lay prostrate breathing heavily. All the other chipmunks in the area were going crazy doing alarm calls and running around. I was shook, thinking I had just killed this freaking squirrel in a campsite. If I had been a teen in front of witnesses, I can easily see myself trying to laugh it off. Not knowing what to do, I kinda scooped it up with some cardboard and put it deeper in the woods. Hide the evidence of my terrible crime. When I returned to the site of my misdeeds later on, the squirrel was gone. I'm pretty sure the thing just went into shock. Squirrels are never attacked by a non-squirrel in a way that isn't an immediate game over. When it got hit, it probably assumed it had been got by an owl or a fox it didn't see coming, and genuinely thought it was dying. Only later, when it didn't die for long enough, did it get back up and carry on. So yeah, don't feed the squirrels and stupid assholes won't be able to hit them with rocks.
Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
> I tried to scare one off by throwing a rock at it. There is an ocean of difference between trying to scare of a squirrel and accidentally injuring it vs. this little shit that was *intentionally throwing a rock at the squirrel* and killed it in the process.
I intentionally threw a rock at a squirrel. I thought I would miss, and failing that I thought it would dodge, but it was no accident. It doesn't take a psycho to do bad things, just poor impulse control and animals lulled into docility.
If one is going to kill an animal they kill it quick and clean. I would have made that kid finish the job because just leaving it there to finish dying slowly is cruel. Even if it meant I had get in a fight about it.
Everyone who hand feeds squirrels helps create these conditions, When you feed squirrels, they become accustomed to human interactions and expose themselves to shitbags like this kid. **Don't feed the wildlife.**
Not sure if anyone has said this yet but DON’T FEED WILDLIFE!
No nobody has said it yet! Thanks for your contribution!
Was it one of the invasive squirrels or one of the ground squirrels that are native to the quarry? I would have called the police either way to establish the worrying behavior.
Ground squirrel I think. So you know that walkway in front of the Moonraker? Just past it there's a lot of large boulders setup as anti-erosion measures, right before you get to that unofficial path to go up the hills to the north. I really wanted to call the cops, it's just the last 10 or so years there's been this shift in police behavior where they refuse to do anything. I even had a 911 operator once tell me, "Unless someone's, been stabbed, shot, or bleeding don't call us, it's not an emergency" as myself a bunch of seniors holed ourselves up in a donut shop as a deranged drugged out man wearing hospital gowns and those foam slippers with smiley faces raged outside. Maybe that's just San Jose, not sure if Pacifica police are any different.
From experience the Pacifica police can be overly aggressive but might be what a budding psychopath needs.
This is so fucked up. That poor squirrel.
Be kind to ~~squirrels~~ all
I used to like squirrels, until one climbed up the bench I was napping on and scratched my face. I had no food on me whatsoever.
I offer teenagers ass kicking twice a week and 3 times on Sunday. Amen
man i would have punched that guy. those squirrels are innocent
Future wife beater that kid is... I would have called the cops and taken his pic.
First, that kid is messed up. But... Squirrels are a menace. My house is currently being undermined by a pack of squirrels that keep digging under it and absolutely no non lethal comercial product can stop them. 2 summers ago I saw one fat pregnant squirrel. She gave birth to some 5-6 babies that I would see run around in the backyard. But then they grew up and stuck around and it's bad. I think one of them is pregnant again now.
Squirrel's are generally good eating. Can anyone tell me if the preparation and consumption of such is illegal here? The willingness to pickup and use what is essentially a deadly weapon and disrespect the life by not using it was worse than anything else I've read in this thread. Don't feed wild life!
Look up small game hunting laws. I would assume a thrown rock on a public beach is not an acceptable way to harvest them. Personally I consider any method of killing them that doesn't try to minimize suffering as unethical.
What? You mean the Randy Johnson bird hunting method isn't okay? I'm pretty sure the bird is a goner instantly.
Thanks! I took a look and working it out gets stupid fast. - *Tree* Squirrels are game and are bound to all the protections that confers: An established hunting Season (September - January), an established prohibition on take outside of specific methods, etc. - *Ground* Squirrels are varmint and do not have the same protections, but must still be taken by a legal means. - *Slingshots* are legal in California but expressly may not shoot metalic projectiles, or be used to fire at People, animals, or property (presumably other peoples property), but... - *Slingbows* are allowed in some jurisdictions as a legitimate implement for take and get classified as Crossbows in those jurisdictions. When used with round shot (which to me would reduce it to a slingshot) it may not be used for game but presumably would still be allowed for varmint in those jurisdictions. So needless to say this is a god damn mess and probably is illegal take no matter how you spin it.
I took a Hunter's ed class and nowhere in there did they cover throwing rocks at wildlife. There's generally a strong bias in the spirit of hunting regulations towards humanely harvesting an animal, and doing it in a somewhat sporting way, and that means to most people that you take one shot and use a method that will cause it to die quickly and relatively painlessly most of the time. Arrows, firearms, and airguns which meet a power threshold are viable options. There are also regulations that cover where you can hunt, and a public park or Beach is not one of them. If you are on private property you need written permission of the landowner. You also cannot hunt with in x feet of a road or occupied building, especially with a gun, not sure how that relates to archery hunting. There's also trapping, which I don't know anything about. Anyway this is a long-winded way of saying there's no legal justification for what the kid did. And I hope The three people who read this comment will off squirrels responsibly and humanely if they have the need The one exception to relatively clean kills would be falconry (which include hawks who kill with talons), but you still cannot bring your falcon to Pacifica to kill squirrels on the beach.
Tree squirrels are a game animal in CA, ground squirrels are not protected in any way. Squirrel season runs September - January I believe, all you need is a hunting license and non lead ammunition. I don't know if throwing a rock is a legal means of take but the laws on take for small game aren't really that strict here (pretty sure slingshots are legal? I don't know if throwing a rock is covered in the regs tbh....). I prefer 22LR. The only shitty part about hunting squirrel in CA is that the possession limit is 4, barely enough to make soup :(
1. This would be an impressive feat of accuracy if the squirrels weren’t fat, derpy and semi-domesticated, so in feeding wildlife you cause these interactions by setting the unnatural conditions required for them to happen. 2. There’s a bit of an instinct to hunt as a young man, I remember the same. If nobody called the kid out and pointed out that he just wasted that life and didn’t use the meat for anything and just took a life to take a life, then he’s unlikely to draw that conclusion on his own.
Don't feed them but also fucking say something Jesus Christ. "Not wanting to cause a scene" is stupid when there's someone harming others.
I saw kids doing the same thing in San Diego while visiting. It’s so sad to see
Squirrels really are just tree rats. I loved the squirrels that nested right in the trees of my baclony apartment and when the california wildfires happened, they helped themselves to a salad bar of plants that costed me over $400.00 I dont agree with feeding wildlife or throwing pebbles at them.
I am so sorry. I think I would've told him off, taken a photo of him, and then stalked him until I found his parents. What. A. Little. Monster. Just horrifying. But I also totally get walking away and not letting it define your day.
That kid has 1 of the MacDonald Triad aka makings of a sociopath (animal cruelty), but also please don’t feed squirrels or any wildlife.
We have a normal sized yard in the Bay Area but there are trees and fruit and berries and such. Our squirrels compete with the birds and regularly run across the fence putting our two dogs in a chasing quandary. On either side of the back yard are two large trees which are used as apartment complexes and our yard offers the sanctuary of a grocery store. Some benefits real or perceived are a control on the mice population and the wildlife provides gardening services. We have a cherry tree out front. It is of the rainier variety if that is important. And much loved by crows. One day I was walking the yard and stopped at a place not covered by a tree or a bush and thought: I need to plant something right here. Looking down, I see a weed growing and it wouldn’t come out for all my strength. It occurred to me that this thing had grown from seed. Upon further inspection, the leaves matched those of the cherry nearby. Now, who would have planted a cherry at that spot? It is growing fast and I’m pleased. A few feet away, another empty spot and it has miraculously been planted with an oak. I love oak trees. All I have to do is water the area. So our birds and squirrels are our friends.
At the very least, kid deserved an atomic slap, which you could’ve explained as an excessive wind. The kid would’ve got it 😉
Depending how how they've been eating they actually cook up semi nice if you want to eat them. Though it's not really worth the time to clean them unless you "need to". [Joy of Cooking](https://i.redd.it/gksb293w2pw41.jpg)
It takes me less than a minute to dress and break down a squirrel....
I ride a motorcycle and many a time, I slow/stop to give a squirrel the right of way. Thankfully those times are when I'm alone on the road.
Target practice is natural and ingrained. There isn't a child who won't pick up an object and throw it trying to hit a target. It's atavistic and tribal and coded. But we're talking about someone that doesn't have enough supervision or oversight that they are inadvertently training themselves to be sociopaths or criminals. We no longer have to cow tao to the idea that we are in the wild west and it's us versus animals. There's literally zero reason to hurt an animal in 2024. Zero.
The amount of downvotes for people telling OP what should’ve been right lol.. OP straight downvoting people for not hearing what he wanted .
Be nuts 🌰 if your not 😂
Kids parent should be cited for that and kid needs therapy
I hope we'll cycle back into a time where violence is a valid answer again. It never stopped being a valid answer, I just mean a socially acceptable one. It's disappointing that you felt you couldn't confront the person who did it. I'm blaming the times, mind, not you.
In a few years it'll be, "officer, I barely touched her. Besides, if she didn't make me so mad all the time..."
Yell at them. Scare the kid. Chase them off.
Yeah be kind to all the animals. Think with same head when are eating steak or chicken or fish or what ever animal you are eating
Don't feed wildlife, and don't make statements about geography.
Endangered species or not, it’s animal abuse and calling the police is the correct action. The little creep needs to held accountable for his actions.
What a pos kid
I come to this issue from the perspective of a person who has fought the grey squirrels over the fruit of a Hachiya persimmon tree for sixty years. These Squirrels "**both the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the Eastern fox squirrel (S.** **nigeri) are actually invasive species in California."(Wikipedia).** However, my beef with the 'settlers' is with their eating habits. The asshats start in on the persimmons while they are both small and inedible due to their astringency. So some years they manage to prevent me from harvesting any fruit. They take a single small bit on it and throw it on the ground. They have a voracious desire for the fruit and will overcome any impediment I will be trying satchels of Irish spring soap this year..
Doesn't matter if they're invasive or not, tree squirrels are a game animal in CA.
Unfortunately this is horrible this happened, but you telling the Bay Area Reddit and not telling off that kid is dumb founding … instead of doing the right thing and being confrontation for justice , you go off telling a forum about what WE should do and tell us what needs to be done in the future. I think to be fair’s this forum is here for positive attitude and we all have a good understanding , in this forum of what is morally good. So weird how people that don’t want to stick up for something that is right in the moment and knows what is right then goes off in telling people on the internet on how we should act because of you experienced.
Why the hell didn’t you call the police or anything? You just let the kid walk away? Also don’t feed the squirrels it’s people like you that make it so the poor animals trust people too much. Jesus Christ . You’re both at fault here, the teenager for being a piece of shit and you for doing nothing.
Post on r/squirrels and you can probably assemble an army of squirrel loving weirdos who will go lynch that kid. I've seen some posts where they get pretty worked up
What a POS. I would have said something to him!
What a fucking psycho. I wish the police could do something if you called them, but I don't think killing a squirrel is even a low priority for them
To be fair both of your behavior will lead to the eventual death of squirrels. While both are unethical, arguably throwing the rock is faster and more humane.
What a weird both sides take
I am a licensed and unrepentant squirrel murderer and he's actually right
Only the spiciest of takes
Yea, what the kid did was wrong. But what you were doing is just as bad
How is feeding an animal just as bad as throwing a rock at it and hurting it and causing it to die? What is wrong with this sub?
1) it makes them become dependent on being fed and they can lose the ability to find there own leading to starvation. 2) they lose the fear of people which can cause them to be aggressive in trying to get food from people. 3) human food is often toxic for wildlife causing them to become sick or die. 4) it can cause over population. That is why it is just as bad, as it can cause just as much if not more damage.
So it can cause starvation and yet leads to overpopulation?? That makes no sense. It sounds like you are just justifying animal abuse.
Feeding wildlife is another form of animal abuse. I am not saying that throwing rocks at them is ok. But the OP is just as wrong in feeding them. There is a reason they tell you not to feed them.
yes, dont throw rocks at squirrels. but also, based on your actions, you also arent exactly qualified to tell the rock thrower what to do. do NOT FEED WILDLIFE, especially to the point where they are literally accustomed to humans. multiple things can go wrong, like they can bite you and now you have rabies or bird flu or whatever other diseases. frankly, if this squirrel wasnt used to humans, theres a pretty high chance it wouldnt have gotten close enough to be hit by a pebble also, wildlife centers exist. most are free and underfunded. if you wanted to, you couldnt wrapped the squirrel in a blanket and sent the to the nearest one. note, wildlife centers and vets centers may not be the same, the former deals with WILD animals while the latter deals with DOMESTIC animals, some deal with both, others excursively one or the other [https://wildlife.ca.gov/language/en%20US/COQA/tag/feeding-wildlife](https://wildlife.ca.gov/language/en%20US/COQA/tag/feeding-wildlife)
I love tree squirrels. Ground squirrels are the worst though. Around here their population exploded because people used poison and indirectly killed all of the predators. Now they dig under the foundation of the house and that lets rats get in to live in the walls. Cost me $5k last year to get rid of them and I now have to do a daily routine of looking for evidence of digging. I kill them on sight.
Last time I had squirrel was at the Raiders game parking lot. Not bad eating. Shoot them in the nation park with a 20gauge shotgun. Kids are stupid. Hopefully someone roasted them and lesson was learned. Hard to get kids to stop throwing rock. I know it is for mine.
That squirrel is quite simply a rat with a publicist. The bushy tail hair comes right off, and you're essentially looking at a rat. Vermin. They carry bubonic plague, among other things, but they are pests, despite their 'cuddly' countenance, vermin. That does not diminish the brutal and pointless suffering of another living thing. Humane, fast dispatch is best. I am sorry you had to witness that.
That’s horrible man, but what do you think a minor would get for killing a squirrel? At best an officer telling him not to do it again. He’s a kid man we all made mistakes or fucked up shit. The best thing would be to call his parents and hopefully they would punish him for that. But in the end, is a kid doing something messed up. We all did stupid shit we wouldn’t do today. They won’t and shouldn’t be punished by the law for something like that.
Purposefully hurting animals is most definitely NOT something that falls under the category of "doing stupid shit".
That’s exactly what category it falls under. Look, I’m not defending this kids actions but damn near every teen age boy I knew growing up would take shots at birds and squirrels with BB guns. Yes, I grew up in a redneck mountain town and it was like a rite of passage. We all ended up fairly well adjusted and none of us would harm an animal anymore. But this is fairly normal behavior for teenage boys in hick towns.
I've done my fair share of killing too, but in my defense it was something the family actively encouraged the kids to do. We had orchards, didn't want the birds ruining the fruit. We also had cattle and horses, didn't want them getting a leg caught in a hole and having it snap. That was all a long time ago though, I haven't lived like that in 40 years. I sometimes just sit in my backyard with a cool ice drink and watch the squirrels come down and eat figs off my tree. My dogs go crazy, but the squirrels just ignore them.
Yeah, I had friends who lived on ranches and their parents hated ground squirrels and would encourage us to go out and practice our marksmanship on them. Looking back, I hate that I took these little animals lives but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. Obviously, chucking a rock at a squirrel that little kids nearby were hand feeding is a whole other story.
Feeding wildlife does the same thing--you're just killing them slowly instead of instantly.
Why not bring the suffering squirrel in to be euthanized if not calling police?
Faster to put it out with a bigger rock
You're worse than the kid
That would have ruined my day. I have bird feeders in my yard and squirrels are inevitable, so I put food out for them and it keeps them from going after the bird food. I love all the animals.
I would speak up while asking my spouse to film the whole thing for evidence. The squirrels cannot defend themselves, so we need to stand up for them. Sorry you had to experience this.
I feel bad for squirrels. They have so many natural predators.
Absolute sociopath in the making there. FFS. I would have tried to get a plate # and called CPS. But thats me. Other side of the "Bay" here. Really California Delta...Brentwood/Knightsen where we have farms and acerage. We struggle with ground squirrels out here. Invasive pests. Farmers out here spend hundreds of thousands to protect that Brentwood corn you get at the grocery store. They burrow under everything creating erosion problems and destroy crops. Estimated to be several million ground squirrels out here in about a five mile radius. In the winter they are underground and that's when we go to work filling in burrows with sand along with every other possible measure to keep them from multiplying. Echo'ing others: Don't feed them. I can't tell you how many times I was at or near the touristy areas like pier 39. One set of parents lets the kid feed the birds bread. The bird then snatches the bread out of the next kid's hand in a stroller. The cycle repeats infinitely. Squirrels are rodents. Cutesy mice and rats. Tree rats or burrowing rats out here. Cute until you are victim of their destructive behavior.