Then, on October 30, the New York Division of Environmental Conservation got here a-knocking with a warrant and seized each the superstar squirrel and a civilian raccoon named Fred. In accordance with Longo, authorities brokers trashed the home.
“Following a number of experiences from the general public in regards to the doubtlessly unsafe housing of wildlife that might carry rabies and the unlawful protecting of wildlife as pets, DEC performed an investigation,” a press release offered to the Instances learn. The DEC requires permits to maintain each squirrels and raccoons as pets.
Two days later, the bureau euthanized each animals, explaining that one had bitten an agent, and that they wanted to be examined for rabies.
When Longo shared the information of P’Nut’s switch to authorities custody, it sparked outrage. The information of his demise made him a tiny martyr.
A Change.org petition urging reform of the DEC had practically 60,000 signatures as of Monday.
“That squirrel has accomplished extra for the neighborhood then [sic] you ever will,” one signatory wrote within the feedback. “Trash all of you might be rubbish.”
A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, too, was launched, and had gathered greater than $177K on Monday. In accordance with the web page, donations will cowl the Longos’ authorized charges and assist the farm.
Mark Longo speculated to the New York Post {that a} jealous tipster referred to as in a grievance to the federal government company.
“Possibly it’s somebody who thinks I exploit this place to make some huge cash,” he stated. “Did this do wonders to my OnlyFans? Completely. It’s making some huge cash from this.”
Some conservatives have discovered P’Nut to be symbolic, his plight consultant to them of unjust authorities overreach. On Sunday, at a rally in Sanford, North Carolina, Vance said that Trump was “fired up” over the demise of the animal.
“I do know Don’s fired up about P’nut the Squirrel,” he stated. “He was like, ‘You already know, is it actually the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels?’ Have you ever seen the movies of this squirrel? He’s, like, a genius. Or he was.”
Musk, too, has made a number of posts towards P’Nut’s seizure and subsequent euthanization, together with sharing a meme of a squirrel dressed as a Jedi that he dubbed “Obi PNut Kenobi.”
“The federal government shouldn’t be allowed to barge into your home and kill your pet! That’s tousled,” he wrote Saturday in a single put up on X (previously Twitter), the social media web site he owns. “Even whether it is unlawful to have a pet squirrel (which it shouldn’t be), why kill PNut as a substitute of merely releasing him into the forest!?”
A Republican New York State assemblyman, Jake Blumencranz, even introduced plans to introduce legislation in the animal’s name, dubbing it “Peanut’s Legislation: Humane Animal Safety Act.”
If that is certainly that “October shock” we’ve been ready for this election cycle, it couldn’t be way more shocking than this—not only for its a-few-days-late timing, however for being the primary time in reminiscence {that a} rodent (who generally wore a tiny cowboy hat) has been central to a political social gathering’s closing arguments forward of a presidential election.
Shock!
