Peanut the squirrel, the Instagram-famous rodent whose killing by New York State environmental officers became a brief election flashpoint, did not have rabies after all, officials have said.
The animal’s owner, Mark Longo, said he would file legal action as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and local government leaders confirmed Tuesday that both Peanut and a raccoon named Fred that was euthanized on Oct. 30 had tested negative despite fears they had been exposed to the disease.
Chemung County Executive Chris Moss displayed certificates at a news conference Tuesday showing both animals had tested negative. Peanut bit an environmental officer during a search of Longo’s home, prompting the need for a test — in many cases animals need to be killed before a rabies test can be carried out.
“I realize people want to vent. But at the end of the day I think you have to realize the seriousness of humans contracting rabies,” Moss said. “This is protocol from the state turned down to the county.”
Moss conceded that in future the county could wait one or two days to assess the situation before euthanizing unauthorized animals.
“It was a 10-month investigation for a squirrel and a racoon. We have murderers and rapists running the streets and they didn’t get investigations like this,” Longo told Newsnation Tuesday night.
“I have to live in this state and these people don’t have the stones to give me a call to say ‘Hey, I killed your animals, also I cut their heads off, also Peanut doesn’t have rabies,’ like we all knew at the beginning of this story.”
Longo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Peanut, sometimes styled as P’Nut, was treated like a household pet and was pictured wearing a tiny cowboy hat and eating waffles. But ownership of young wild animals is illegal in the state due to the risk of disease and concerns over the animals’ development.
The rodent became a political talking point during the presidential election when some commentators said the seizure of the animal from Longo’s house in rural Pine City, New York, was an example of government overreach.
Vice president-elect J.D. Vance told a rally in North Carolina two days before the election that “I know Don’s fired up about Peanut the squirrel.” He also said that “the same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country, doesn’t want us to have pets.”
The case garnered such publicity and strong feelings that DEC staff were subjected to death threats, the union representing environmental said on Friday. The union also pointed out that DEC officers were not responsible for deciding the animals’ fate, although county official Moss said it was “unfair” to suggest that it was the county health department’s decision.
Longo had kept Peanut for 7 years, after he said he saw its mother get hit by a car in New York City. He cared for it for 8 months and attempted to release it back into the wild, but the animal returned a day later with a broken tail so he decided to shelter it permanently.
Longo’s Instagram account posting pictures and video of the squirrel reached more than half a million followers while it was alive, a number that has since risen to more than 900,000.
The saga is now headed to court.
“Absolutely, we are filing a very big lawsuit,” Longo told Newsnation. “Not only did you violate my constitutional rights, you need to come up with an explanation as to why you murdered these animals,” he said.
