By Judie Brown
Last year we wrote about Peanut the squirrel and the public outcry that ensued when this animal was euthanized. Thinking the story had run its course, we moved on. But we really discounted the furor that continues to be ginned up over this little critter.
A recent article explained that Mark Longo, Peanut’s owner, has filed a lawsuit arguing that Peanut was wrongly put to death. Longo told USA TODAY, “Filing these lawsuits will allow us to create a movement. . . . This was a heinous act by an overpowering government who overreached.”
To put a point on this latest news, New York lawmaker Rich Azzopardi told the media, “When no one is minding the store & state agencies are allowed to act with impunity, this is how stuff like this happens. . . . This situation should have come across someone’s desk in
@GovKathyHochul’s office & someone with a brain should have stepped in.”
While it seems that common sense prevailed when local officials feared that Peanut might be affected with rabies and chose to end his life, we must remember that we are talking about a squirrel. Though he was important to his owners, he is still a wild animal.
As I think about the uproar regarding this animal, I can’t help but wonder where the concern is about actual human beings, and I believe that someone with a brain might have pointed out the tragic consequences of aborted babies, especially in the state of New York, which reports more than one hundred twenty thousand abortion deaths via office and telehealth visits.
Children are the heritage of the Lord, and yet in the twisted line of thinking among far too many people, it is a squirrel’s rights that gets the attention while the babies languish in a mush mentality of rights, choice, and freedom to pursue self-interest. Even the horrifying revelation in a recent report by Liberty Counsel Action that “an estimated 30-40 tons of fetal remains and abortion pill byproducts are flushed into public water system annually” does not register with media elites.
Is it any wonder that we have such a tough time getting the pro-life message to resonate among the general population? There seems to be a blind spot among our fellow Americans regarding respect for the human person, while furry forest creatures catch the eye, the pocketbook, and the courtroom. We are really living in totally squirrelly times.
Yet not all is bad news. Pope Leo XIV recently made it a point to remind Catholics on the World Day for Grandparents and Elderly that “embracing the elderly helps us to understand that life is more than just the present moment, and should not be wasted in superficial encounters and fleeting relationships. Instead, life is constantly pointing us toward the future.”
These words ring through the cultural muck and teach us anew that where life is threatened by any action, program, or law, we are called to defend it. Life is indeed more than the present moment, it is a gift to be cherished, celebrated, and defended.
As the Holy Father said, “Christian hope always urges us to be more daring, to think big, to be dissatisfied with things the way they are . . . [and] to work for a change that can restore esteem and affection.”
This is what we do every moment of every day as pro-life workers in the Lord’s vineyard.
Let us be ever aware of the gift of faith, the gift of life, and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which provide us with the supernatural help we need to carry on. They are the antidote to squirrelly thinking; they are our spiritual arsenal, aiding us in the ongoing project of pro-life evangelization.