Epic bad choice to be sure. Still, rabies is no joke, and infected animals have no fear of humans and can appear to be quite tame, friendly even. It's a tough call. If the squirrel was sick, and it got away it could have bitten someone else, or at least infected other animals. What if animal control couldn't get out there in time?
As I said to another commenter on this post, the squirrel, which was just a baby, could have been immobilized by throwing a box, coat, blanket, etc. over it, at which point it wouldn't have been a problem to just shepherd the children away and call animal control. Or he could have done that first. If, for some reason, he couldn't have done that, then immobilizing the animal would have worked just fine. Me, I'd have called for help at once, even as I was shepherding the children away. If the squirrel came after them, I would have insured that if it bit anyone, I'd have been the one to take the bite. Then I'd have had rabies shots, and so what? Question: Weren't there any resources in the immediate area that could have been used to immobilize the squirrel, such as a box or coat? And why couldn't he have just shooed the children ahead of him while walking away from the squirrel?
Okay, I've watched the video now, and I have to say this: there was something strange about that squirrel. Normally, squirrels will avoid humans. The only situations which will induce them to charge a person are either illness (rabies being a foremost suspect) or the human accidentally triggering a "fight or flight" response when flight is, for some reason, not an option (threatening offspring in sight of the mother, for example). In either case, it is imperative not to allow the animal to reach contact range. Pepper spray is actually a very humane response in this case; the officer's only other realistic option was lethal force, because not only was the squirrel charging him, had it gotten past him, it would have been charging towards school-aged children. Had the squirrel savaged one of them, rabid or not, can you imagine the media response? The backlash against the police
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This was a baby squirrel. The cop could have quickly shepherded the children away from the squirrel, then called animal control -- that should have been his first priority. If that wasn't possible, or if the squirrel was chasing them as they moved away, he could have simply tossed a garment over it, such as a coat or something. Or a box. Or something of the sort. That would have immobilized it, and then getting the children away and calling animal control wouldn't have been a problem. There were options. He didn't use them.
Take another look. The squirrel was charging directly at the cop, the biggest, most threatening-looking individual present. He (the officer) couldn't take the time to shepherd away the children - children who, from the commentary in the video weren't inclined to cooperate anyway - without risking the animal getting past him. Outside of the officer's own clothes, I didn't see anything immediately available to be used as a makeshift net. And the animal was already in combat mode. The officer had to do something right then - there was an immediate threat in progress. As I see it from the video, the officer had three acceptable choices: pepper spray (which he used), a weapon, or stomping on the attacking tree rat.
Let's look at the options.
(1) Pepper spray. Stops the attack, with no long-term harm. Yes, I've been pepper-sprayed. Yes, it hurts. No, there is no real damage, unless the target happens to be allergic, which is extremely rare, and even rarer in animals than in people. Result: one incapacitated animal, which was subsequently
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I can only tell you what I'd have done, which would have been to try to block the thing with my own body. If it bit me, so what? I'd get rabies shots. Big deal. Because the squirrel was so small, it couldn't have done much mechanical damage to my body. And while I was blocking its advance, I'd have yelled to the children, "Go get a teacher! Go now!" The squirrel would have been distracted enough attacking me to give them plenty of time to do that.
Sometimes the convenient/painless thing isn't the right thing. Sometimes you have to take the risk, that others might live and be unharmed.
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Let's look at the options.
(1) Pepper spray. Stops the attack, with no long-term harm. Yes, I've been pepper-sprayed. Yes, it hurts. No, there is no real damage, unless the target happens to be allergic, which is extremely rare, and even rarer in animals than in people. Result: one incapacitated animal, which was subsequently ( ... )
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Sometimes the convenient/painless thing isn't the right thing. Sometimes you have to take the risk, that others might live and be unharmed.
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