It still hurts them you ******* idiot.

You think it's okay to torture animals for fun? Are you insane? Sadly, this is how a lot of parents of kids who do this kind of thing react. It's a huge red flag to get the kid help now before he starts treating other people the same way. Yet, these warning signs often get brushed off or ignored, and worse things happen in the future.

Yea cuz all kids that shoot squirrels become psychopathic killers... Pretty sure I shot a number of squirrels back in my day and never committed a crime and I am a vet tech now. Which means I help injured animals and deal with true animal abuse cases... Not some kid down the street shooting a squirrel

131 - You didn't shoot a person, did you? That's what this kid did: turned the barrel from the squirrels to OP and shot him. That's a line that should never be crossed, and it's what the law is for.

No, not all children who do that grow up to be "psychopathic killers", but some do, and even if they do not, the fact remains that it is absolutely not normal behaviour. It is indicative of a lack of empathy, which is something that should never be ignored. In this case, the child has already crossed the line from animals to humans, having shot the OP. This needs to be addressed professionally. #131: It's great that you grew up to be a vet tech in your case, and now you're helping animals, but that does not change the fact that "a kid down the street shooting a squirrel" is absolutely "true" animal abuse. Harming an animal for amusement is, by definition, animal abuse. For example, The California Penal Code defines (similarly to many others throughout the world) animal cruelty as: "The malicious or intentional maiming, mutilation, torture or wounding of a living animal, and states that any person who overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary food, drink or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates or cruelly kills an animal is guilty of a misdemeanor or felony."

I agree with you! These people are wayyy over-reacting! What the other people are saying is all hunters become serial killers... I hunt, I shoot/maim animals intentionally for fun, yet I don't see myself locked up! And besides that point, I really hate animal activists (or any kind of activist for that matter), they're just annoying liberals. Animals don't have nearly the thinking power that us humans do. Cats don't even register pain as punishment. On top of that, animals can't develop feelings towards anything and they dont have conscious thought. They feel pain, it just doesn't matter to them like it does to us.

Soooo, you're saying hunting is illegal? That's the intentional maiming of an animal...

Yup that's why some many killings and mass murders happen in the country... If this statement was even partially true there would be atleast 1000 times as many killers in this country... Think about that one

Than you better stop eating vegetables they are alive before you kill it too

Oh and ps you're taking away from the animals food source by being a vegetarian causing animals to starve to death which is worse than humane death and if everyone became vegetarians there would be an over abundance of animals and they'd all starve and die. Also on this topic if you're wearing clothes which I'd hope that fabric comes from animals too

Why would squirrel's need rights? They're pests. They're destructive. When they start evolving and understanding what we know, which won't be anytime soon, then we can give them rights. Until then, they're nothing more than pests. And it's all fine and dandy for you to be a vegetarian, and it's great that you're an animal rights activist, but that doesn't make you better than anyone else. This has nothing to do with being a vegetarian.