On Wednesday afternoon an 11 year old boy in Tucson, AZ walked outside after his grandma said he could not play Nintendo Switch for a seventh straight hour, and looked for something to assert dominance over in order to help his tiny boy brain cope with his lack of control.

He found his target in a perfectly crafted ant hill rising just above the dirt. When the boy’s foot made contact with the ant hill, the top collapsed and the ants scurried about in a panic. Some of the ants managed to climb over the boy’s shoe and bite him in a violent act of retaliation. It hurt the boy and made him sad.

Sure, it probably would have been nice of the boy to not crush the ant hill for no reason aside from his desire to feel so big and strong. But perhaps the ants should have known that he would want that, and prepare accordingly. What did they expect? He is s big strong human boy and he needs to feel powerful. The ants going so far as to bite the lad is a bad look, and frankly unprofessional. While they certainly are victims in one sense, they will not be winning anyone over in the court of public opinion if they insist on viciously pinching children’s legs with their tiny ant fangs.