'It's called animal control': Jason Lewis slammed after snarky comment asking 'social workers' to handle black bear
When Fox News tweeted 'Black bear spotted in parking garage at Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn. Wednesday night.', Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis shared the post, mocking the left and liberals alike for their outrage against the police, tweeting "But by all means, let’s abolish the police! Would love to see a “social worker” take care of this one." Little did Lewis know, social media would hound him for not knowing what falls under the police's or social workers' jurisdiction, and what is the animal control's job.
"He’s a U.S. Senate candidate and doesn’t know that Animal Control deals with situations that involves animals... that's terrifying," shared a user on the platform right after Lewis had made that error in his post. Lewis, a former radio talk show host, political commentator and writer, is running in Minnesota, where the black bear was also spotted. And over the recent past the general public's outrage has multiplied into worldwide protests and riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder at the hands of disgraced cop Derek Chauvin - one among many incidents of police brutality against black people. So as more and more people call for defunding the police and express an interest in its replacement, Lewis decided to shade the public interest by taking a dig at their opinions.
What actually happened was a self-dig, as Twitter flocked to the senate candidate's post to remind him, with due snark and sarcasm, "how keeping a bear in check is totally the social workers' job; not like animal control exists or anything."
"Well it is a black bear so the cops in Min. probably would have no problem shooting it... But seriously how stupid do you have to be to think Police handle these things, what do you think Animal Control is for?" tweeted another user in response. "Jason did you forget that Animal Control exists?" asked author Robin LeBlanc.
"White people think the police can solve every problem – why would your first instinct when seeing a wild animal be the police and not animal control, you idiot?" wrote one. Another chimed in with genuine concern, asking "How in the hell are you allowed in politics? You do know what animal control is right?"
Another made a distinctive observation and tweeted: "So you immediately think "Shoot the bear". Cops hate people like you - snowflakes who call them primarily to come over and shoot whatever it is the snowflake doesn't want around. Honey, for bears you cal Animal Control who traps the bear."