New York resident Mark Longo, 34, had his rural house raided by New York’s Division of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday. Their goal? Peanut, a social media star who additionally occurs to be a squirrel. Officers additionally confiscated a raccoon named Fred from Longo’s house.
On Friday, officers reported that Peanut and the raccoon had been euthanized.
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“On Oct. 30, DEC seized a raccoon and squirrel sharing a residence with people, creating the potential for human publicity to rabies. As well as, an individual concerned with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To check for rabies, each animals had been euthanized,” the businesses stated in a press release. “The animals are being examined for rabies and anybody who has been involved with these animals is strongly inspired to seek the advice of their doctor.”
A spokesperson for the DEC stated in a press release that the raid got here after the company acquired “a number of stories from the general public in regards to the doubtlessly unsafe housing of wildlife that might carry rabies and the unlawful holding of wildlife as pets.”
Seven years in the past, Longo says he noticed a squirrel get hit by a automotive in New York Metropolis and seen Peanut, whom he presumed was now an orphan. Longo says he took Peanut house, nursed him for eight months, after which launched him to the wild.
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“A day and a half later I discovered him sitting on my porch lacking half of his tail together with his bone protruding,” Longo advised AP Information.
He took the squirrel again in and began an Instagram account that had amassed 534K followers.
“The DEC got here to my home and raided my home and not using a search warrant to discover a squirrel!” Longo advised AP Information. “I used to be handled as if I used to be a drug supplier they usually had been going for medication and weapons.”
Longo addressed the incident on Instagram.
“Everybody with a pet is in shock proper now that this might occur to them,” he reposted from the Animal Rescue Mission.
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