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Peanut, who has amassed more than half a million Instagram followers, was euthanized by officials to be tested for rabies.

Peanut, the Instagram-famous squirrel that was seized from its owner's home Wednesday, has been euthanized by New York state officials. 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation took Peanut, as well as a raccoon named Fred, on Wednesday after the agency learned the animals were “sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies," it said in a joint statement with the Chemung County Department of Health.

Both Peanut and Fred were euthanized to test for rabies, the statement said. It was unclear when the animals were euthanized.

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[–] [email protected] 157 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Peanut had been living with owner Mark Longo for seven years

Man. What a feel-bad story. There's a certain kind of person who takes glee in destroying others' joy and they will use any technicality to get the excuse to do so all while blathering "the law is the law, the law is the law."

Seven years. What a shameful travesty.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago

Republicans. Unless they want a squirrel.

[–] its_prolly_fine 106 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (8 children)

Okay, I was initially totally against the DEC but reading the article really changed my mind. You need a license to own wild animals in NY. Ya know cause they should not be pets... also wildlife rehabilitation requires a license and training. Also rehabilitating means returning them to the wild. Not to mention an extra license and training for animals that are common carriers of rabies.

He has a squirrel for 7 years as a pet without a license with zero intention to rehabilitate his animals. He was using them to make money. Getting them to do tricks, wear hats and clothes. He essentially had a roadside zoo, but his customers were online. He says he was in the process of getting a license. He had the squirrel for 7 years, and was actively collecting more animals. This guy sucks, no wonder people were reporting him.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Oh man I don't enjoy being that guy right now but for the love of all, It's CUSTOMERS. Costumers are people who work in dress-up.

I've only seen this in the past few years, but it's become such a common mistake. I don't understand it.

Sorry, I mean you're making a salient point about the lack of a license and all. Even so, if he's been caring for the squirrel domestically for seven years, where do they think the supposed rabies would have come from? It doesn't just manifest.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

All these mistakes grind my gears, but this one is especially bad. Some of them make sense because of the way the word is pronounced.

Who is out there saying costumers instead of customers? Nobody says it like that.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I feel like I’m going nuts, is nobody on lemmy actually reading this article? This dude turbo sucked.

Longo brought Peanut him home, ultimately caring for the squirrel for eight months before trying to release it back into the wild. He said Peanut returned to his porch a day and a half later with a broken bone sticking out of its tail, at which point Longo determined Peanut couldn't survive in the wild alone and instead would move in with him.

Didn’t get him veterinary care though, because that would have resulted in his Cool Pet being taken away. What’s wrong with a little risk of sepsis and zero pain control for a serious injury if someone really, really wants to be a special boy??

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 week ago (3 children)

A wildlife rehabilitator (Nessie) on TikTok pointed out that his squirrel and his raccoon would not have had access to veterinary care (ie, vaccination for rabies).

She also pointed out that showcasing wildlife in social media is currently unregulated - in person exhibitions requiring an expensive license to get. This is a bit of a loophole, and what that guy did is likely to get that loophole closed up, and impact sanctuaries that do operate within the current law while using social media platforms to fundraise.

Also, personally, the way he showcased the animals just seemed inappropriate - squirrels eating human food just seems problematic. Iirc he ran a domestic rescue, not a wildlife rescue, which is a different skill set. Wildlife rescuers avoid interacting with animals as much as possible. Animals aren’t toys and don’t have the same kinds of needs we do, and the fact they are cute shouldn’t complicate our emotions.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I read the article and can’t believe someone could read the same thing and come away thinking, “this guys sucks.”

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (8 children)

You can’t believe people would be angry that someone illegally kept an animal an forced it to perform for his own profit?

You must be really unfamiliar with the history of animals in circus performances.

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 week ago (5 children)

The only charge is "potential to spread rabies" and they killed the animal to test for that (for some reason). So, if the test comes back negative, they will make full repariations right?

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 week ago (5 children)

No, the cruelty is the point. The kind of people who made this happen have common sense just like the rest of us, that 7-year-old squirrel didn't have rabies. They refuse to make exceptions or use common sense because they specifically want to hurt others.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

full repariations

And surely such reparations would take into account future lost revenue, as they would be expected to it this were a regular person against a corporation.

Surely.

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[–] HellsBelle 33 points 1 week ago (6 children)

It's because rabies infects the brains of animals, so that's the tissue that is tested.

I'm wondering why the people who were caring for the animals didn't just get them rabies shots in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I wonder why animal control officers who handle animals suspected of having rabies DON'T HAVE THEIR FUCKING RABIES VACCINATION. I needed a thousand dollar shot just to volunteer for a fucking animal shelter.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

to test for rabies, couldnt they have just observed the animal in some quarantine for the gestation period of the disease?

[–] HellsBelle 19 points 1 week ago (15 children)

They could have, but if the animal had already bitten a human, that extra few weeks' wait is dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 week ago (1 children)

got it, this was pure animal control spite. they only claimed a bite after they seized the animal 'for testing'. their timeline is bullshit.

at least some good came of it

Longo and his wife moved to Upstate New York last year to start P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, which is named for his pet and officially opened in April 2023

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[–] its_prolly_fine 16 points 1 week ago

No, rabies is an absolutely bizarre virus. The progression of the disease is highly variable. The person peanut bit could star displaying symptoms before peanut. Once symptoms show up, you are essentially dead. Rabies has one of the highest death rates of know human diseases. The only definitive way to test for rabies is testing brain tissue. The amount needed for a high confidence result is too much for the animal to survive. So the animal is always euthanized. That why having all pets that can be vaccinated, vaccinated is so important.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Like 7 years in a house?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Unfortunately rabies testing requires samples of the brain. This is why if you are bitten by an animal you suspect of having rabies, a professional should catch it and test the animal. The tests that exist for diagnosis in living humans are not reliable.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/php/laboratories/diagnostic.html#:~:text=Rabies%20testing%20requires%20that%20the,after%20an%20animal%20is%20euthanized.

In this case I didn't open the story to see why they believed a domesticated squirrel needed to be tested.

Edit: somebody that didn't interact with the animals complained they might have rabies?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago

No. Its illegal to own as a pet. Someone reported him for that. When they were collecting peanut he bit someone and That's why they put him down.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That guy sucks for keeping wild animals without the proper certification and training resulting in no medical care for the animals.

At the same time I'm also skeptical of how the state handled it because I feel it's important to remember that policies and how situations are handled can always use improvement.

For example, how did the investigator get bitten? Were they wearing proper protective gear and following procedure? Was he or she properly trained to detain animals like a squirrel? If the state is going to send people to confiscate wild animals a bite incident is a big fucking deal and there should be an internal investigation as to how that happened. For both the future safety of the employees and animals.

This whole situation sucks.

[–] Bakkoda 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I think this is a fantastic story of perspective. Not doing the bare minimum to ensure you retain control over the animals you claim to love (and most certainly capitalized on monetarily) vs NYS immediately escalating this to baffling levels of stupid instantly.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 week ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago (6 children)

TBH this really shouldn't radicalize you. This is what people are supposed to do when an animal bites somebody. The thing that was done incorrectly was creating a situation where an animal could bite a person.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Wild squirrels are not legal pets in NY—not that the legality necessitates this cruel outcome.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Disgusting, FYI yes squirrels can carry rabies, but it is extremely, I say again EXTREMELY rare, and transmission to a human via a squirrel is even MORE rare than that. Typically rabies just outright kills small rodents such as squirrels

[–] its_prolly_fine 16 points 1 week ago

It isn't that the virus outright kills them. They just typically don't get close enough to animals that could infect them. They are prey animals so they wouldn't approach infected animals, they would run. They are also very small so the initial bite or scratch that could infect them kills them before they actually develop the disease. But a squirrel living with a raccoon because some guy thought it was cute. Yea, that would do it

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago

What a depressing story

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

The statement said one of the officials involved in the investigation into Peanut and Fred was bitten by the squirrel.

Sorry but they had no real choice on this one. Vaccines can and should be administered immediately to any human bitten by an animal in all cases, but vaccines are not foolproof and the animals must be tested. The only method to test for rabies is removal of brain tissue.

Just because a wild animal is docile to some humans or has its own social media account does not mean they are pets and they should never have been in this situation unless the property owner was a certified rescue and rehab.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The dude had started getting his certification seeing as the squirrel didn't want to return to nature and had become domesticated when the raid happened. The owner wanted to be in line with the law, but that apparently just put a giant flag on him. Also, do they have to conduct a surprise raid instead of just approaching the guy and attempting to be civil with him? I saw no information that a civil approach was taken.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

The NBCNews article doesn't mention the word raid anywhere, it says inspection. If you know more about the story then your words are plausible but going by the article your account doesn't match. The owner waited 7 years to try for certification, supposedly.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

but vaccines are not foolproof

Yes they are. Only pointing out so there is not unnecessary fear spread about rabies. It is 100% preventable before or after exposure.

Does the rabies vaccine work? The rabies vaccine works remarkably well. Studies indicate that if the vaccine is given immediately and appropriately to someone who was bitten by a rabid animal, it is 100 percent effective.

https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-details/rabies-vaccine

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Ridiculous and wholly unnecessary government overreach. Every official that touched this should be fired and publicly dragged through the mud.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (8 children)

OK, we have very serious, and honestly, pants-shittingly paranoid responses to rabies for a really good fucking reason:

If you show symptoms, you are dead. Period. And not a nice death.

When I was young, you saw a wild dog, lot of people would reach for their rifle, it was just their reflex.

Maybe we have to update the laws, but they are there for a reason, and one of those reasons is why we don't have too many rabies deaths in this country, and we are still considered one of the countries with high risk of rabies.

Tl;Dr - don't fuck with rabies.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Harambe 2.0

We just jumped timelines again.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago

After reading the whole thing, this is heartbreaking

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (9 children)

Ngl, I hope whoever submitted those anonymous complaints suffers (in a manner that doesn’t affect their pets). Absolutely disgusting. Idgaf about rabies, stealing someone’s pet to kill it is morally reprehensible. Edit: Changed from wishing they suffered the same fate, to they suffered a different one, to a similar degree

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Idgaf about rabies

Now that's a take I wasn't expecting to see.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Look, there has been a confirmed total of 125 cases from 1960-2018. That’s literally nothing. Of those 70% were bats. Rabies is scary, but it is not common and the level of fear and cruelty surrounding it is unwarranted, ESPECIALLY in this case. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6823e1.htm Edit: Misquoted figure, the 38% of international were dog bites, not national

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You can take home a new animal every day at this rate, and still be more likely to die on your way home from work. It doesn’t mean don’t get your animals vaccinated, it doesn’t mean don’t be vigilant. It does mean don’t fucking kill peoples fucking pets.

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[–] its_prolly_fine 23 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Ignoring the rabies comment, a squirrel isn't a pet it's a wild animal. Taking wild animals from their environment and keeping them as a pet is illegal and should be. Its is terrible the animals were killed, but it is the "owners" fault. He should have taken the squirrel to a wildlife rehabilitation so it could be returned to the wild. But instead he kept it to do tricks for him. He endangered the animals and anyone who interacted with them. This is a consequence of his actions?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Oops! They didn't have rabies! Here you go! They're in the bag.

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