People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued a statement on the killing of the social media squirrel superstar Peanut.
“In a perfect world, Peanut and Fred would have been brought to a licensed rehabber and released back into their natural habitat. But PETA laments that, after being a part of a family since infancy, Peanut and Fred’s lives were taken from them,” Catie Cryar, PETA’s media relations manager, told The Dallas Express.
Later, she followed up, “There is always a humane solution, and it’s a pity that New York officials didn’t find one here.”
This statement comes after the organization had initially received criticism for perceived inaction on the matter. The PBD podcast produced a video that had been viewed almost 400k times on YouTube with the title, “Justice For Peanut” – PETA Silent As Peanut The Squirrel Is EUTHANIZED [caps in original] By Crazed NY Officials.”
Peanut, sometimes spelled as P’Nut, became an internet sensation after he was orphaned and adopted by Mark Longo. The squirrel was raised by Longo and his wife Daniela as a domesticated house pet. Peanut became an internet celebrity and videos about his life attracted around half a million followers on social media.
On November 1, agents from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) executed an action against the Longo household and seized Peanut and a less famous raccoon named Fred. Over Longo’s objections, both animals were immediately euthanized to allegedly test for rabies.
However, rabies in squirrels is uncommon. Likewise, it does not usually pose a risk to humans.
“[Squirrels], … whether wild or kept as pets, are rarely found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans,” the Wisconsin Department of Health Services says on its website.
Therefore it is unclear what risk DEC officials thought Peanut or Fred posed to the public or how law enforcement allegedly received several anonymous tips about a rabid animal on the premises.
DEC and New York’s Chemung County Department of Health reportedly cited rabies as their justification in a joint statement. “[We are] coordinating to ensure the protection of public health related to the illegal possession of wild animals that have the potential to carry the rabies virus,” the statement read.
News of Peanut’s death became one of the two dominant stories on social media in the weekend before the presidential election. The story was widely perceived as an act of government overreach and many observers saw it as highlighting the other major story from the weekend, which was a reexamination of the points made by former Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) about the dangers of large government agencies, DX reported.
At the time of Peanut’s killing, he was 7 years old. In the wild, Eastern Grey Squirrels typically die around 6, although in captivity they have been known to live around 20 years, a factsheet from the State University of New York says.
After Trump won all 7 battleground states and cruised to victory with 312 electoral votes on November 5th, Longo told The New York Post, “Maybe P’Nut played a part in his victory. I’m not quite sure. I’ll never know but I would like to keep a little piece of me knowing that [P’Nut] might have made a change here, and that’s what I want the most.”
He then extended an invitation to the president-elect to visit his New York farm.
Aside from farming and raising famous animals, Longo is also an adult entertainer with a significant following on OnlyFans, a platform that frequently hosts pornographic content.