Out of control government- pet squirrel euthanized by New York is about much more than killing an animal

PINE CITY, NY - Normally, a story about a squirrel getting euthanized would pass by without any notice. However, P’nut the Squirrel offers a shining example of government overreach and the priorities of the ruling class in blue states. 

For those who have been living under a rock, P’nut was a 7-year-old squirrel who lived in an animal rescue after being hit by a car. He was domesticated and could not be released back into the wild. P’nut gained fame as a social media star, but apparently, some busybody, probably named Karen, decided to dime out P’nut and his caretaker, Mark Longo, to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). 

In the best traditions of Nazi stormtroopers, agents descended on Longo’s home with a search warrant looking for the rascally squirrel and his partner in crime, Fred the Racoon. Armed with semi-automatic weapons and tactical gear, ten agents from the DEC spent five hours tearing through the home, Longo told the New York Post. 

“They treated me like I was a terrorist. They treated this raid as if I was a drug dealer. They ransacked my house for five hours,” Longo said. 

“They asked my wife, who is of German descent, what her immigration status was. They asked if I had cameras in my house. They wouldn’t allow me to go to the bathroom without a police escort, who then checked the back of the toilet to see if I was hiding anything there,” Longo continued. 

Perhaps he should have identified as a member of Tren de Aragua, the violent Venezuelan gang that has taken over cities across the U.S. He would have probably been released with an apology. Such is the state of blue states run by far-left lunatics like Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY). 

What happened afterward is even more egregious. After seizing the squirrel and his friend, the raccoon, the DEC euthanized them. 

The Post contacted the DEC, which claimed it was acting on complaints of a “rabies vector species” in the home. 

The state claimed they had to kill both animals so they could be tested for rabies after the squirrel allegedly bit one of the agents during the raid. 

P’nut was an internet star, and millions of people nationwide followed his antics. Some said he apparently had an affinity for waffles. 

“My phone is blowing up from people around the country saying how much they loved P’nut,” Longo said. “I have people who call me and cry more than I do.” 

The DEC told WETM that the armed raid was in response to complaints about the raccoon. However, Longo believes they used that as an excuse to remove P’nut. 

“The only time I ever talked to the DEC prior to this was when they got complaints from anonymous people on the internet for P’nut about five or six months ago, and that was before Fred [the raccoon],” Longo said. “They used Fred as their go-to to get into my house.” 

Longo also dismissed the claim that one of the agents was bitten, saying that he didn’t witness anything like that while also noting that the agents had thick gloves on during the raid. Longo said he wanted medical records of the officials who stormed his home to see if they indeed got tested for rabies. 

A check with ChatGPT confirmed that while squirrels can carry rabies, it is extremely rare. In fact, the CDC doesn’t consider squirrels to be a common carrier of rabies, so the excuse offered by the New York DEC doesn’t hold water. 

You may be asking why Law Enforcement Today is invested in this story. The overreach by a government agency, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, is stunning. Using ten heavily armed officers to raid a home in search of two harmless animals that, while their housing inside violates some obscure state law and that they may carry rabies shows what out-of-control government looks like. 

While some may dismiss this as a nothing case, remember that back in late 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul wanted to put New York residents who were not vaccinated and possibly exposed to a communicable disease into the 2021 version of World War II Japanese internment camps. Remember the old adage: a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you’ve got. 

Take the zealousness shown by state officials in the case of a squirrel and make it about parents who don’t want to affirm a child’s gender transition or someone who prayed outside an abortion clinic. A government that would send ten heavily armed agents to seize a squirrel and a raccoon wouldn’t think twice about doing the same in one of the above cases. In fact, the latter has been done in Pennsylvania. 

Remember COVID? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz authorized police to shoot paintballs at citizens outside their homes in violation of his unconstitutional curfew. Police in one coastal community arrested a man wake-boarding by himself in the open ocean due to “emergency” regulations put in place by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). 

The P’nut case even caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, who wrote:

“The P’Nut incident has exploded on social media as an example of abusive government, and it’s hard to conclude otherwise if Mr. Longo’s account is accurate,” they wrote. “The 34-year-old had better watch out now that he’s gone public because there’s nobody more vengeful than a bureaucracy that’s been embarrassed when its bullying zealotry is exposed.” 

P’nut’s plight has also caught the attention of Elon Musk, who posted on X:

“Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him.” 

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance weighed in on the euthanization of P’nut during a campaign stop. 

“[Trump] was like, ‘You know, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels? Have you seen the videos of this squirrel? He’s like, a genius, Or he was,’” Vance said, according to the New York Post.

“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,” Vance said. “It’s the craziest thing.” 

Imagine what would happen if the same mindset crept into the federal government, not that it already hasn’t. While Democrats and their media mouthpieces bloviate about Trump being “Hitler” and a “fascist,” it is Democrats who fit those descriptions. 

Can you imagine something like this happening in Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis or Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott? It wouldn’t happen. 

Sure, this story is about a squirrel, but the macro issue is an out-of-control government trampling on the rights of its citizens. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao would be proud.