Outrage over the case of Peanut the squirrel, seized and euthanized by the state of New York

The state of New York seized and put down Peanut the squirrel, famous for going viral on social media, as well as a raccoon named Fred. Both animals had been rescued by owners Mark and Daniela Long, who recently recounted their ordeal with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The case caused national outrage, prompting reactions from Robert Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk, among other local politicians.

As Mark Long recounted, he rescued the squirrel seven years ago when the animal's mother was hit by a car and since then the animal lived with him in his Pine City home. As for the raccoon, it had arrived about four months ago, after someone abandoned it on the Long's doorstep.

The raw account of Peanut's death

Long first spoke to media outlet TMZ and recounted the horror he experienced a few days ago, when a number of officers showed up at the door of his home.

"Officers raided my house as if I was a drug dealer. I was sat outside my house for five hours. I had to get a police escort to my bathroom. (...) I wasn't even allowed to feed my rescue horses breakfast or lunch. I was sit, sat there like a criminal after they interrogated my wife to check out her immigration status," he said.

DEC agents arrived with a warrant to search his house due to anonymous complaints from neighbors. They then proceeded to seize and subsequently euthanize two of his pets, Peanut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon.

As DEC agents later explained, it is illegal to keep a squirrel and a raccoon inside the house, but Long explained that they lived inside because he didn't have the "heart" to leave them outside.

As for the slaughter of the animals, the state said it was because they had to test them for rabies. They claim that the squirrel bit one of the agents who participated in the raid on Long's house.

"Peanut and Fred didn't have rabies, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you now. I've been with them for a long time, played with them, cared for them and didn't foam at the mouth," the animals' owner responded in a statement to the New York Post.

"The only time I talked to the DEC before this was when they got complaints from anonymous people on the Internet about P'nut about five or six months ago and that was before Fred. (...) They used Fred as their option to get into my house," Longo stated.

"With all the crime in our migrant shelters..."

One of the first to react was Elon Musk, who expressed himself on his X account about the squirrel case. "Government overreach kidnapped an orphaned squirrel and executed it," he wrote on his social network.

RFK Jr. opted instead to ironize with animal protectors who criticized him in the past. "Are they the same ones who killed my whale and bear? What happened to the head? I was just asking about a friend," he noted.

Joe Borelli, a Republican councilman, scoffed at Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's priorities. "With all the crime in our migrant shelters, it's good to know we have the time and resources for a squirrel swat team," he said of the matter.