![The Holley Fire Department is sponsoring the "Squirrel Slam." This year there is even a category for children under 14 encouraged to shoot and kill squirrels as entertainment.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/ff/9c/ff9c196201ba48c084a12237e3c0a58b.jpg?itok=M3bKtaBh "The Holley Fire Department is sponsoring the "Squirrel Slam." This year there is even a category for children under 14 encouraged to shoot and kill squirrels as entertainment.")
Over 20,000 supporters, as of Tuesday have signed petitions which will head to Mayor John W. Kenney, Jr. and the Holley Fire Department asking them to end the mass killing of squirrels in a small upstate New York community next week. If you're a squirrel, and you are unlucky enough to be living in Holley, N.Y., it is highly suggested you pack your nuts and get the heck out of town. On Feb. 16 the "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam" begins, and adults and children are encouraged to grab their guns and shoot any squirrel in sight.
The seventh annual mass killing of squirrels is being promoted as a community celebration and is being sponsored by the Orleans County's Holley Fire Department. There are no limits on how many squirrels hunters can kill, and prizes will be awarded for the adult and child who kill the most and the biggest. The newest division is for children who are 14 years and younger.
If you find this celebration particularly disturbing and cruel, the alleged party gets even more macabre. According to the Holley Fire Department's website, there will be drawings for guns and rifles - an AR/22 Semi - much like the assault weapon used to murder the children of Newtown.
Animal rescue groups have called the event a "sadistic form of entertainment."
According to the laws of New York State, the event is legal because it follows the hunting rules of the state, but animal advocates argue that many female squirrels have already given birth during February and this will mean the babies may starve to death. Animal lovers also worry that squirrels who are just wounded will run away to escape and languish in agony for days while they bleed to death. Animal advocates call it morally wrong.
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