Man charged with illegally keeping 'attack squirrel he fed on meth'

Mickey Paulk insists he would never give it drugs to rodent, which he named Deeznutz

Thursday 04 July 2019 09:54 BST

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Police film 'attack squirrel' which man fed meth to make it more aggressive

A man accused of feeding methamphetamine to what police called an “attack squirrel” has been charged with illegal possession of wildlife in Alabama.

Court records show Mickey Paulk has not denied having a pet squirrel, which is illegal under state law.

But he has denied police allegations he fed the drug, otherwise known as meth or crystal meth, to the squirrel - called “Deeznutz” - to make it more aggressive.

Police found the animal during a raid at Mr Paulk’s home in Athens, where they say they found meth, drug paraphernalia, body armour and ammunition.

Mr Paulk later said he has had the squirrel since it was a baby and would never give it drugs.

Where not to visit if you love animals

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1/9Where not to visit if you love animals

Where not to visit if you love animals

Monkey shows

Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Marine parks

Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Tiger shows

Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them “safe” for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Donkey rides

Sunning on the beach is great for humans – we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Swimming with dolphins

Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Canned hunting

Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Running of the Bulls

Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Horse-drawn carriages

City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Zoos

The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further.

EPA

The rodent was set free by police after officials from the state’s Department of Conservation recommended releasing it back into the wild.

Stephen Young, a spokesman for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, said there had been no safe way to test the squirrel for meth before its release.

Mickey Paulk was arrested following a chase in which he allegedly rammed an investigator’s vehicle (Limestone County Sheriff’s Office via AP) (Limestone County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Limestone County sheriff’s officers arrested Mr Paulk last week following a chase in which he allegedly rammed an investigator’s vehicle.

He faces illegal gun possession and other charges.

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