In a tragic story [1] that went viral over the weekend, Peanut (P-Nut) a 7-year-old grey rescue squirrel, a fluffy internet celebrity, was seized from his owner on Wednesday, October 30th and put to death by New York state officials.
This wasn’t some rogue, rabid squirrel terrorizing a neighborhood – P-Nut was a beloved pet and social media star with about a half a million followers on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. He was hand-fed and more domesticated than most of our nation’s lawmakers. And yet, with the swiftness of a bureaucratic stamp, New York state condemned him to death – along with his raccoon brother Fred. Just because they could.
Wallach’s heartbroken statement is here [2].
When a local legend becomes an outlaw.
So what is this all about? According to multiple sources, P-Nut’s owner, Larry Wallach, who is the head of P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary [3] had been raising the squirrel after it was abandoned as a baby. P-nut quickly became a fixture of local and national charm, a whiskered reminder of a gentler America. He made people laugh, gave life to the internet, and paid more in emotional dividends than any government official ever will.
But then, the bureaucrats got word of P-Nut. Turns out, state laws regulate the ownership of “wild animals” like squirrels – a label that P-Nut, despite his cuddly ways, wasn’t able to shred.
Government gone nuts.
New York officials, in a display of sheer overreach after getting a tip about the squirrel, decided P-Nut was a public menace and swooped in to eradicate him from Wallach’s house – and in the end, they killed him. In the state’s eyes, he was a rogue squirrel – a danger.
NY officials said the squirrel had to be killed because he bit an investigator and they had to check it for rabies. I would have bit that person too – a stranger who was taking me away from the only home I had ever known. How was the squirrel to know what was going on and to be “friendly” to the a-holes who invaded his home?
And it’s hard to take the government’s word on the “dangers” of P-Nut and Fred while they ignore the out-of-control crime and illegal aliens plaguing their city. It’s also scary to see what kind of powers the government has and what can happen when that unchecked power is in the wrong hands.
When government overreach hits home.
Yes, the government can walk right into your home anytime they want. And even if they have a warrant, it’s often based on unconstitutional government overreach cooked up by a bureaucratic department that has no business being in your home to check on anything.
In the end, this isn’t just about squirrels and raccoons; it’s about the choice every American faces this election season. Do you want a country where government agents can barge in, take away parts of your family – or at the very least, seize your property and strip your rights to make personal choices within the privacy of your own home? Without due process? Choices that don’t affect anyone outside of your home.
Seriously, these a-holes sent a team of a dozen government officials to raid this guy’s house.
Wallach said in an interview, “Ten to twelve DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) officers raided my house as if I were a drug dealer. I was made to sit outside my house for five hours. I even needed a police escort just to go to the bathroom. They didn’t allow me to feed my rescue horses breakfast or lunch. I was treated like a criminal while they interrogated my wife about her immigration status. Then, they asked me if I had cameras in my house and proceeded to search through every cabinet, nook, and cranny – for a squirrel and a raccoon…A judge signed off on a search warrant for a squirrel in a raccoon. And then they took them and k*lled them.”
When even the squirrels aren’t safe, it’s time to question who’s running the show – and make changes.
Tomorrow is election day. Ask yourself this: Do you want to live in a world where even a backyard squirrel isn’t safe from bureaucrats? If that sounds insane to you, maybe it’s time everyone rethink who should be in charge of what goes on in our country – us or the “system”??