By this point, most Americans have heard the epic ending to 'Peanut'....the squirrel who'd been saved by some New York guy....gotten to 'pet-status', and was extinguished (put to death) by New York animal authorities late last week. The visit by the authorities? Dozen state badged officials.
So I reviewed the whole story from a different prospective....COST.
Man-hours required? From the planning process....paperwork typed...trip to the home....couple hours there interrogating the couple....recovering and terminating Peanut...returning to the office.....filing paperwork...there's 96 man-hours involved.
Don't BS me....I've worked within the fed-government and know how man-hours get added up.
So you figure....New York officials....so they are making (with pensions, health-care, and extras)....around $80 an hour. Total at this point? $7,680.00
But hold on....they have pistols, training certificates and regular practice....you need to add around $1,000 onto this amount.
But we aren't finished. To get 12 folks there....you have to figure New York state, and at least six vehicles, with gas/maintenance figured...so add around $1,200 onto this amount....so we are up to around $10,000 roughly.....to kill one squirrel.
Meetings on Monday with state officials having to dedicate time and effort....explaining this to news people and the public....so add on $30,000 for the sixty-odd people who are engaged for six hours of meetings and BS-explaining things.
So I'm figuring around $40,000 spent to kill Peanut (the squirrel). Here's the thing...it's not fake-money....it's coming out of state tax money (New York state).
In most states....Alabama in mentioning....the country would have sent one single animal-control guy out. He would have done a 8-minute presentation about 'THE LAW', and confiscated the squirrel. Somewhere between the confiscation and the office....he would have stopped by the side of the road....dumped the squirrel out (alive) near a tree, and filed some 1-line report....squirrel-problem eliminated. Total expenditure? Maybe $60.
There's something wrong here....it's just that the public hasn't figured it out yet (especially in New York).
Finally....to the lady in Texas who filed complaints about this pet-squirrel stuff....which led to the officials on the mission? Her social media account? Shut-down. Some say her phone is turned off. It would appear she left the place she was living because of public criticism, and hiding out at present. Her reputation at this point? Squirrel-killer-lady? I can't imagine attending church....bowling with some team....attending weddings....under this type of accomplishment.
We live in a pretty rough world....where a dozen folks might visit with 'authority' and waste a whole day on 'nothing' but killing one single squirrel. In Alabama....at least in the 1970s....a dozen guys would have killed at least 300 squirrels in a single hunting trip....made no report.....piled into one pick-up (with 9 guys riding in the rear....having no safety concerns) and having consumed six cases of beer before night-fall.