NEW YORK – Peanut the squirrel, a pet that gained social media fame, was euthanized by New York state wildlife officers as a part of a check for rabies. 

Mark Longo, Peanut’s proprietor, claimed extreme power was used to grab his pet squirrel earlier within the week. State wildlife officers stated it was unlawful to personal the wild animal. 

Longo launched Peanut the squirrel to social media fame over the previous seven years. In a video posted to his Instagram account, he stated by means of tears, “Peanut was the very best factor that ever occurred to us.”

The New York state Division of Environmental Conservation seized the squirrel Wednesday, together with Longo’s pet raccoon named Fred.

“You want that many officers?”  

“On Oct. 30, DEC seized a raccoon and squirrel sharing a residence with people, creating the potential for human publicity to rabies. As well as, an individual concerned with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To check for rabies, each animals had been euthanized,”  the New York State Division of Environmental Conservation and Chemung County Division of Well being stated in a press release. “The animals are being examined for rabies and anybody who has been involved with these animals is strongly inspired to seek the advice of their doctor.” 

Longo stated the raid on his house and farm, referred to as P’nuts Freedom Farm, took 5 hours. 

“You want that many officers to point out as much as my home to actually pull my closets aside?” Longo stated. 

Tens of 1000’s of signatures in a web-based petition demanded Peanut’s return earlier than Friday afternoon, however wild animals are thought of property in New York. 

Underneath state legislation, the one approach to legally rescue squirrels is to turn into a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, a course of that may take months, and to legally maintain a domesticated wild animal, it additionally must be registered to be an academic animal.

“We had been able to comply, we had been able to get the paperwork, we had been within the technique of doing that. We would have liked slightly little bit of steerage from the DEC,” Longo stated. 

He says he plans to take authorized motion over what he thought of was extreme power from the raid.