Peanut the squirrel’s demise, each time it might have come, was all the time positive to evoke a sea of feelings from the web. After all of the ‘parkour knowledgeable’ had managed to amass a following north of 600,000 on social media. His shenanigans, in tow with pet mother or father Mark Longo, saved many entertained. The duo would prepare dinner waffles, with Peanut oft seen donning his pint-sized cowboy hat.
On October 30, following an apparently overwhelming variety of claims from the general public at massive, perplexed about “the doubtless unsafe housing of wildlife that might carry rabies and the unlawful maintaining of wildlife as pets” — as shared by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to the Associated Press — 6 officers seized Peanut and Fred from the Longo’s Pine City, Pennsylvania border residence. A day later, Mark took to Peanut’s Instagram deal with to share the information of his critters’ ‘euthanasia’. What’s worse is the submit revealing that the media was notified of this resolution earlier than phrase of it reached P’Nuts Freedom Farm, the wildlife shelter run by Mark. 7 years is how lengthy Mark and his spouse Dani housed and cared for Peanut, a novel affiliation which started when the previous reportedly noticed the infant’s mom being run over by a automotive. Since then, it has been all tune and dance within the trio’s delightfully chaotic life, as curated for his or her prolonged social media household.
The motive cited by the New York DEC was that the choice to euthanise Peanut and Fred was taken in relation to their rabies testing, their principal concern being that the critters have been “sharing a residence with people, creating the potential for human publicity to rabies”. Yet, in his newest submit searching for #justiceforpeanut, Mark argues that “nobody within the United States has ever gotten rabies from a squirrel”. The wildlife shelter proprietor went on to make a compelling case that if rabies was the actual concern, one thing projected by way of the seizure of his critters, the longer term appeared grim for any and all pet homeowners — “You know what animal may get rabies? Dogs. So what’s subsequent? THIS IS SERIOUS” learn an excerpt from his newest submit. Many on the web have additionally been arguing about what the distinction actually was, between having Peanut round and the occasional gesture of feeding squirrels within the park.
In phrases of motion, Mark has launched a Go Fund Me in Peanut’s title which has raised $140,000 and counting. Also within the works is a authorized invoice, Peanut’s Law: Humane Animal Protection Act, geared at defending sanctuary animals, as introduced by New York State Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz.
Further forward on the political entrance, Congressman Nick Langworthy, in an impassioned X submit has additionally gone on to classify the DEC’s actions as “ridiculously mistaken priorities”.
Amid Mark’s efforts to make Peanut’s demise depend for future accountability and alter, the grim incident additionally seems to have by some means spiraled into a significant level of dialogue in context of the US presidential elections, polling season for which has been continuing in full swing. While the circumstances of Peanut’s loss of life do probably not look like the most certainly subject to collect such political steam, many on the web are taking it as an apt instance of pointless and mindless authorities intervention peaking, a story directed in opposition to the present Democrat authorities, with POTUS hopeful Kamala Harris eyeing the Oval Office for the subsequent 4 years. Ardent Donald Trump supporter, Elon Musk, has been entrance and centre on this regard, voicing his ideas on the loss of life of the critter, his views reflecting the Republican rationale on the matter — “Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him”, learn an X submit of his.
Do you agree that Peanut and Fred have been wronged?