Cruelty to animals is linked to criminal behaviour and is an indicator of future violence toward humans.

FBI investigators have noted that animal cruelty is common among serial killers and mass murderers, who are often found to have tortured animals in their youth. These people are fascinated by the power of death and their God-like status as the taker of life.

The killing of pets and the fear that accompanies it within the community is also a weapon of war employed by authoritarian governments. They use the slaughter of pets, or the prevention of their ownership, as emotional control. It is particularly prevalent in communist or collectivist regimes who see furry pets competing with the Dear Leader for affection.

North Korea, whose government was described by Christopher Hitchens as a necrocracy, recently ordered pet dogs to be confiscated and eaten because they represented ‘Western decadence’. Communism quite literally consumes happiness. Meanwhile, China’s leadership calls dogs a ‘menace to social peace and harmony’ and that those who own pet dogs are accused of acting out a crude and ludicrous ‘imitation of Western life’. It’s part of the CCP’s crackdown on a growing obsession with ‘individual rights’ and the free flow of information that has arisen with the internet.

Communists believe that owning pets is a symbol of Western Civilisation. That kindness to animals is a threat to authoritarian rule. What does that say about our governments who are increasingly cracking down on pet ownership? (And, just quietly, trying to silence the internet while calling civil liberty #FreeDumb…)

Let us imagine what the proclivities of serial killers and communists can tell us about an American government department that organised a team to kidnap two animals – a squirrel and a raccoon – only to have them killed with the squirrel’s head cut off in search of rabies.

Since when did we start testing for diseases with a guillotine?

Peanut, the ‘Insta-famous’ squirrel, and his fellow rescued friend Fred the raccoon, were loved by millions who followed their story of survival online until they were seized by New York authorities. The squirrel had been with the family for seven years after it was attacked as a baby, losing half its tail in an injury which prevented it from surviving in the wild. It never hurt anyone.

Anonymous complaints from the same sort of person who might rat on children playing outside during Covid led to the over-powered Department of Environmental Conservation snatching the pets from Mark Longo’s home.

‘On October 30, the Department of Environmental Conservation seized a raccoon and squirrel sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies. In addition, a person involved with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To test for rabies, both animals were euthanised.’

There was no evidence that either animal had rabies, or that anyone living in the home had contracted rabies, and there has since been no release of the tests which will almost certainly confirm that this whole thing was a witch hunt. As for the person ‘bitten’ by the squirrel – I’m struggling to find any sympathy.

These were not only pets. The Instagram account on which these animals were featured helped support the P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary which is home to 300 animals. According to the animal’s owner, Peanut was in the process of being registered as an educational animal.

America has plenty of problems – pet squirrels and raccoons are not among them.

People are struggling to comprehend the overreach displaced by officials. What did the poor little rescue animals do, aside from being ambassadors for human kindness?

‘Despite our passionate outcry for compassion, the agency chose to ignore our pleas, leaving us in deep shock and grief,’ said Mark Longo, the owner of both animals.

The same State that struggles to rustle up authorities to address serious crimes perpetrated by illegal migrants and outright refuses to address the drug apocalypse taking cities hostage has raided this man’s home for five hours with six officers after a judge signed off on the whole nonsense scenario. You can almost hear the conversation playing out, ‘Your Honour, we’ve got a squirrel problem…’

The Democrats deserved it when Team Trump, along with powerful social media owner Elon Musk, turned this senseless behaviour into an election point. Rightly so. The behaviour of the government and its officials is relevant to their suitability for power.

‘Vote Trump for Peanut who was needlessly murdered by Democrat bureaucrats in New York. We will avenge you on Tuesday at the ballot box.’

There is nothing Kamala Harris can do after the, ‘They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats…’ line became a Trump theme song at rallies. There is no misinformation or disinformation here. The Democrats are breaking into people’s homes and killing their pets.

As Congressman Nick Langworthy said earlier: ‘The NYS DEC needs a serious reality check on their ridiculously mistaken priorities.’

The DEC and Chemung County Department have used as much heavy-handed language as possible to conceal the simple reality that they killed someone’s rescued pets, saying they were ‘coordinating to ensure the protection of public health related to the illegal possession of wild animals that have the potential to carry the rabies virus’.

These would be the same animals that are running around everywhere outside the house, still, presumably, with their heads in place.

The DEC, like so many zealous and unwelcome ‘wildlife’ organisations across the West, has developed the same sense of self-importance as Big Pharma, insisting that wild animals are ‘not well suited for life in captivity’. Really? Peanuts and Fred were pretty happy. Life in captivity suited them a lot better than their short, violent experience at the hands of the DEC who gave them the French Revolutionary treatment. As for the DEC, their last online post has been ratioed to death, with 11,000 comments from the public telling them exactly how they feel about their environmental work.

Modern environmentalism has long been accused of being ‘anti-human’. It has developed into an eco-fascist movement that uses the natural world as an excuse to ‘reset’ human economic and political systems into communist models and to pass forests of legislation designed to constrain humanity to a green-tinged prison cell. This is despite communists being the worst environmental guardians in the world.

In this context, it is easy to see why environmental authorities don’t want ordinary people engaging with wildlife. Authorities have adorned themselves with special moral and ‘technical’ powers, insisting that somehow only the State is fit to commune with the natural world. They are the priests of the new religion. The oracles high on the fumes of virtue.

We have seen it in Australia when wildlife warriors came after a family that saved a magpie. The truth is humans have saved and cared for wild animals since the dawn of time. Where is the authority coming from to interfere? Who gave the State the right to decide that humans are separate from nature and must not interact with the natural world?

I’ll tell you who. Governments that want humans kept separate from nature so that they can use nature as a political weapon.

Earlier, I asked our readers on social media what they thought. Here is what they said:

‘Peanut the squirrel’s death isn’t about people getting outraged over a nothingburger … it’s about how the state can barge into a man’s home at the stroke of a judge’s pen, strip him of all his rights, and treat him like a felon, rifle through his belongings, and murder his pet animals over an anonymous complaint made thousands of miles away because officers are “just following standard procedure”.’ – Ian Miles Cheong of Rebel News.

‘Absolutely horrific! Total government overreach. With all the crime it was an insane waste of time and resources as well as being incredibly cruel and heartless. I’m stunned.’ – Leilani Dowding.

‘It’s the same players, with self-loathing, do-gooder leftist activists who can’t bear to see joy, happiness, and frivolity.’ – Mark Rowley.

‘This story has resonance because it’s a superb example of the malevolence of the leviathan we call “the administrative state”, and we all still have shell-shock from the endless petty tyrannies forced on us during Covid.’ – jjinUK64.

‘Notice in 1984 there are no pets…’ – Grumpy Jock.

‘I thought the policy for illegals was “catch and release”…?’ – Schnoggy.

‘It represents the Democrat and Labor Party progressive Left politics, virtue signalling concern for the wellbeing of the animals to force entry to a citizen’s home and then killing those animals as an expression of statutory authority.’ – Jason Morahan.

‘Petricide!’ – Christopher Ian Ford.

‘It’s the perfect anarcho-tyranny tale. The system that refuses to lock up murderers will send a SWAT team to kill your pet for lack of a permit.’ – Will Tanner.

‘The arrogance of the government is often beyond belief, but their arrogance will be their downfall. People, governments, and those with power often forget these ancient words: “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”’ – Graeme Glenn.

‘Hearts, souls, and free-thinking populations are Kryptonite to the mechanistic thinking of governments that seek to terrorise people into zombified slavery to petty red tape and bureaucratic absurdity.’ – Unmasking Mainstream Media.

‘It brings back all the Covid horrors, like the dogs that were shot at a shelter in NSW to discourage anyone from going out to look at dogs to adopt, remember that one?’ – HoodwinkedUSA.