We all procrastinate from time to time. It is tempting to avoid doing the hard things and become distracted by the easy or the absurd.
The State of New York is excelling at absurd lately. A cynic might even say they have abandoned all reason and are suffering some sort of breakdown. We can all understand feeling heavy with the burdens of trying to manage a state like New York out of decline.
But it is hard to imagine a healthy government seemingly ignoring those substantive issues and instead focusing on getting all the bad press they can by killing squirrels and raccoons and confiscating pet alligators. How does this even happen?
First, it was Albert the Alligator from Hamburg confiscated by the State of New York from his 30-year home for no good reason other than administrative overreach in May of this year.
Now, Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon have been seized from their owner and killed by the State of New York after a raid of the home they lived in by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. You read that right – a raid – a raid to confiscate a tame squirrel and raccoon.
Peanut’s human, Mark Longo, was interviewed by Chris Cuomo on his News Nation show and said, "What happened today and what transpired throughout this week has been nothing short of a tragedy and a disgrace to the New York state. We used resources from this state to kill a squirrel and raccoon and raid my house as if I were a drug dealer. We have resources to kill a raccoon and a squirrel, but we can't fix the major bridges down the street? I am appalled."
Longo makes a good point. The state is broke, buckling under the cost of housing illegal aliens, and housing costs for average New Yorkers are out of control. People are fleeing the state in droves because of taxes, regulations, crime, and remaining animosity from basic freedoms taken during COVID-19.
Rather than focus on these issues, the State of New York has somehow become fixated with Squirrel Instagram stars. Peanut has 692,000 followers. Maybe our good governor is jealous of Peanut’s following? Please make it stop!
While there may have been reasons to check the health status of Peanut and Fred, there were options other than death and, from what we can gather, those options were not explored. Longo wasn’t even informed that his beloved animal companions were killed. He learned about it from the media.
People rebel against the government when they see the government working for its own benefit and for its own processes no matter what common sense might tell them. When the process becomes blind to the people it is supposed to serve the breach in trust for government opens even wider.
Even Gerry Kassar, New York State Conservative Party chairman, has a theory of Peanut and Fred. “I've got a kind of a simplistic theory on this and it goes like this. Harris is as governmental a personality type as you can be. And, if people are having problems with believing that government needs to be pushed back on, that there is governmental overreach, the Peanut the Squirrel incident doesn’t help.”
You can say a lot of things about Donald Trump, but he definitely seems more like the person you're going to run into on the street than Kamala Harris, and he's not going to kill your squirrel.
Peanut and Fred have even sparked legislation. Long Island Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz (R- Hempstead, N. Hempstead, Oyster Bay) has introduced Peanut’s Law: Humane Animal Protection Act. The law would add provisions to the state’s Environmental Conservation Law over animal seizures.
Do better, New York. Do better.