Nicole Campos Villaran
Peanut the Squirrel was a rescue squirrel who had lived under owner Mark Longo's care for seven years and was inspired to start the P'Nut Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. Longo first connected with Peanut when he saw the squirrel's mom get hit by a car. Unfortunately, the mother died, leaving Peanut an orphan. He was a sensation on social media and people all over the world loved him.
Peanut lived in Pine City, New York with his caring owner. New York's environmental conservation agency got complaints that Longo was keeping wildlife illegally. The agency confiscated Peanut and Fred the raccoon from Longo's home and sadly the environmental agency decided to put them down, which sparked backlash online. “It is with profound sorrow that we share the heartbreaking news: on October 30, the DEC made the devastating decision to euthanize our beloved Peanut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon. Despite our passionate outcry for compassion, the agency chose to ignore our pleas, leaving us in deep shock and grief…”
The most shocking part of this news is that various New York Department of Environmental Conservation offices over the past 48 hours received more than 10 bomb threats. There is a reported correlation between the bomb threats and the death of Peanut the squirrel. Is this an act of hate? Or maybe envy? As we know dogs can get euthanized too but euthanasia can be required after the dog bites someone in these instances: If the canine has rabies or has bitten at least two people or if the dog has bitten and seriously injured someone and was raised to attack people or to fight.
As of right now Peanut the Squirrel reportedly bit one person which led to the decision to euthanize him and Fred the racoon. This was taken in relation to their rabies testing, their main concern being that the critters were "sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies". Maybe things would have changed if they signed to get a wildlife license in their state, this could have prevented this act of violence. People need to understand that animals are part of the family too, we need to be able to treat them with respect.
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