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

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.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
    5421·
    11 days ago

    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.

    • 🔰Hurling⚜️Durling🔱@lemmy.world
      397·
      12 days ago

      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.

    • laverabe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      11 days 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

    • buttfarts@lemy.lol
      159·
      12 days ago

      I don’t think the government needed to get involved. If this guy was hoarding animals then okay. He had a squirrel and the gov’t killed it? Thank you gov’t I really feel safer now knowing you killed this guy’s squirrel.

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
        185·
        12 days ago

        He had two wild animals, the first one for at least 7 years, and was making income from them without ever getting certification to house them. These rules exist to protect people and animals from harm.

        The Guv’ment doesn’t just break in and trash the place, kill the animals, for shits and giggles. I’m sure they would much rather be somewhere else far away from this shitshow. Blaming the inspector is victim blaming.

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
        54·
        11 days ago

        But you cannot test for rabies without killing the animal. Rabies infections spread up the nervous system to the brain in hours, not weeks.

        The animal bit a human, at that point nothing could be done.

        • angrystego@lemmy.world
          63·
          11 days ago

          You can vaccinate the bitten human right away without any test, which is how it’s really done. Waiting for test results is not a good idea. If the vaccine didn’t work (it does work if administered in time), then there would be no help for the person. Testing is unnecessary.

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
            3·
            11 days ago

            You always get vaccinated for an animal bite immediately no matter what. There are additional doses and close observation for confirmed cases.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            11 days ago

            No vaccine is 100% effective. They need to test for rabies in case the vaccine doesn’t work properly so they can take extra care to prevent issues. If it comes back negative, fine. If it comes back positive then you need to take extreme care or the person is going to die. I’d rather a squirrel, which someone should have as a pet anyway, die instead of a person. There’s no way that house was ideal for a squirrel unless they lived in a forest.

            Edit: reading the information someone else posted, it is 100% effective, but not just with one shot. Several doses need to be administered several days apart. If the test comes back negative, those don’t need to be taken.