You know as well as the rest of us, you're worried about your pockets, we're worried about our freedom.

My observation is that Peanut, Ruby Ridge, and Waco were all government over reach.

SMH I'm done this is too much like talking to the vice president!
Avoid, deflect , avoid , deflect, avoid, and word salad.

That is exactly how it should've been handled and most wardens I know would've done exactly that as a first step.

My guess is that what triggered this was the online presence and resulting revenue. That gets into an area beyond a simple keeping something they shouldn't have. It's into exhibitors much like some of these backyard zoos.
Probably wanted an equally online counter. One that has now hit the fan.

Actually no, I bend more than a few of the rules when I feel justified. And I've had a few unanticipated imposed "fees" as a result, though none wildlife related yet.

Freedom in a Constitutional Republic isn't anarchy, not even libertarian but the rule of law. Problem is neither the law abiding nor the law enforcers have any sort of respect for the rule. The former because it's plain the the law is completely arbitrary and ever increasingly intrusive and the latter because they can.

There is always the opportunity to take in some extra revenue when the little whirl of smoke is rising over the hillside and the smell of corn mash is in the wind.

I have no doubt the whole thing wasn't made public on the internet by accident. What the purpose was I'm not certain, other than the "proud are happy and the wicked set up", lol.

you all are ignoring the significance of social media. Stupid things go viral on social media and then millions of idiots are suddenly doing it. Everything from the ice bucket challenge to eating tide pods.

I briefly had a pet squirrel as a kid. If the opportunity came up when my kids were younger, I might have considered letting them try having a pet squirrel. If I saw a neighbor with a pet squirrel, I wouldn't care. But the harsh response to a social media squirrel is necessary.

Once a pet squirrel started getting attention on social media they needed to squash it before it got out of hand. If authorities played it off softly, it could have created a bigger problem. When the people who eat tide pods saw that even though its "illegal" nothing really comes of it, they'd all be out trying to catch squirrels. That would be very bad for the squirrels and the trend following idiots.

If they waited until it went viral, it would be to late to stop. Bravo for shutting it down before that!

Are we getting welders and starting a dozer build or what?

Very valid point.

If I heard right, this squirrel wasn't a problem for 7 years, until some KAREN complained, and she's supposed to be an animal rehabber ?
There's money involved here, weather the state wants their cut, or the complainer is afraid of losing business.

There are two sides to every arguement sooo, I'll be the odd man out and defend the NO WILDLIFE AS PETS law.

When I was about 16 years old I caught an adult raccoon in a Havahart trap, brought him home and put him in a large cage I had built. After about a week he had calmed down a lot and would take food from my hand. One day my friend Jimmy S came over, saw the coon and decided he wanted to pet him. Well, good ole Jim opened the door and after a minute the coon walked over to his hand and a second later bit him. We were young and dumb and laughed at Jim for being stupid enough to try to pet a wild raccoon. To this day I thank God that raccoon didn't have rabies because not only didn't Jim tell his mother what had happened but that coon ended up chewing threw the cage and got away a couple of days later.

Well the got to make laws to protect people from being stupid sounds good in your mind until you swap the topic from animals to guns. I'm sure there are plenty of stor of stupid people doing dumb things with guns that have or could cause harm. Must need to make laws so people can't get them. It's for their own safety. You can't make the world safe by passing laws no matter how hard you wish it would work.

And laws didn't stop you now did they?

Well let's flip it using the same hysterical logic driving this mess. What if the wildlife laws are there for the protection of wildlife from stupid people?

It sure is strange the LAWS we CHOSE to enforce.

Killing it sure seems l8ke the best way to protect it to me warrior. Saw a picture of the guy with the squirrel hanging on his arm and shoulder that.lookes to be outside. my fites two thoughts are that's got to hurt knowing how it works when even a very small squirrel climes right up your arm like a tree and how you get 5 little pin tricks where each toenail contacts. 2 if the squirrel wanted to it could jump down and leave but maybe it's got Stockholm syndrome.

Again I don't care about Killing a squirrel or coon I kill a lot of each every year. It's the compleat government overreach and ridiculous level of response.

The guy that had them is an idiot putting them on social media and I'm sure takes zero accountability for his actions. But his actions created this reaction. The reaction was way over the top like the swat team and the Amish farmer selling raw milk. And that's the point. it's not about the squirrel it's about the continuous and building instances of complete goverment over reach.

Nope, didn't stop me Providence Farm. As you can see by my earlier post on this thread, I brought home many more animals after that incident and was personally effected by the DEC laws. Yes, we all had guns at the age of 16 too and accidents could have happened..I'm only trying to see both sides of the story.

I agree, the government overreach has gotten way out of control and that whole situation could have/should have been handled differently.

So this guy moved from Ct to NY, was trying to get the proper permit from NYDEC but they were not getting the information needed , were being stonewalled, or just dealing with incompetents....

ONE officer could have fixed the issue with a simple knock on the door, and advised the owner of the requirements. ALL law enforcement has the discretion on how to enforce the law. Yeah, it's just a squirrel, but the action taken was beyond ANY common sense....How they even got a warrant on an anonymous complaint with no other evidence is beyond me.
Forget the squirrel, but it shows what govt can and will do to citizens on a simple complaint.... nothing but a Gestapo...

looking at both sided and thinking deeply about them is always a very smart way to do things for sure.

We need small Govt it's way to obese now!.

"Bigger is better" is instilled in us from an early age. And its not always a bad thing, until we start living to eat instead of eating to live !