Martyrdom of the Squirrel

[Anna]

This story disgusts me.  
An example of big government with no common sense.

This story disgusts me as well. The animal shouldn't be killed. It's not the animal's fault that the owner didn't try to get a license.

But the thing is that if the squirrel wasn't shown around on Instagram, the heartless government officials probably wouldn't know about its existence.

In my country, there are restrictions on keeping wild animals too. In the past, in order to keep a lion or a tiger at home, it was enough to register a fictional circus. Now the procedures are much more strict. There's some bureaucracy to go through too if you want to keep small animals. If the permission isn't obtained, an animal can be confiscated. I didn't hear about the cases of euthanasia though.

However, the authorities must somehow learn that you keep a wild animal at home. While it would be difficult to hide a tiger or an elephant, a squirrel could be kept at home without anyone knowing. The question is whether it would be happy while locked at home. I don't think it needs internet popularity though.