"RACCOON LIVES MATTER TOO!" — Internet rallies against Fred the Raccoon's euthanization after outrage over Peanut the Squirrel's death
The euthanization of Fred the Raccoon — another pet member of Mark Longo's family in New York — has led to a huge social media uproar, with netizens discussing how raccoon lives also matter.
Fred was seized from the home of Mark Longo — the pet parent of both Fred and Peanut the squirrel — on October 30. Fred was euthanized on Friday, November 1, two days after Peanut died. The officials later revealed the reason behind their euthanization as testing for rabies.
In the wake of the euthanization, many netizens openly criticized it as a "tragedy." A fresh account made for Fred the Raccoon (added on November 2) was also tagged in the tweet.
"The real tragedy isn't P'Nut the squirrel, but Fred the raccoon, who was euthanized despite not biting anyone, just for being associated with P'Nut," tweeted a netizen.
"While everyone is talking about Peanut, we lost a sweet little racoon named Fred. Rest in Peace Fred," wrote a second one.
"What breaks my heart the most is that Fred the Raccoon complied with NYS authorities but still was executed. Fred didn’t hide. Fred didn’t resist. Fred didn’t survive," a third user wrote.
Meanwhile, some users even blamed the Democrats for Fred's death.
"Honestly, what you are seeing in the Democrat party is the absolute disdain they have for anything good and decent... Without the government, who else would euthanize animals living peacefully with their family?," uploaded a netizen.
"The story of Peanut the squirrel, and his sibling Fred the raccoon, being killed by the government in New York, is exactly why democrats shouldn't be running an inch of this country...," posted another one.
"Fred the raccoon and Peanut the Squirrel are the straw that breaks the camels back. If you vote blue you are pure evil. You have no business lecturing anyone on morality or values or anything!!!," wrote a third one.
Fred the raccoon was seized and euthanized by the NY State DEC
According to NBC News, Fred and Peanut were the pets of a New York resident, Mark Longo, who lived with him peacefully in his home. Longo's videos of his squirrel on Instagram made the wild pet quite popular, with Peanut's handle garnering 748,000 followers.
Both the wild animals were seized from Longo's home on Wednesday, October 30. Peanut reportedly bit one of the officers in the process, but Fred showed no signs of resistance.
Two days after the pets were euthanized, The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Chemung County Department of Health released a joint statement. They stated that the pets were seized after it was revealed that they were "sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies."
As per the statement, the officials were "coordinating to ensure the protection of public health related to the illegal possession of wild animals that have the potential to carry the rabies virus."
In the caption of a video shared on Peanut's Instagram handle on November 4, Mark Longo wrote:
"We are so sorry Fred 💔 we just wanted to give you a start to your long life. You didn’t deserve this."
According to the official guidelines of the DEC, it is illegal to consider "young wildlife as possible pets" because they're not well suited for a life in captivity. Both squirrels and raccoons are considered wild animals, which is why they were seized.
NBC News reported that multiple anonymous complaints about the wild animals living in Longo's house in Pine County, New York, prompted the seizure.
Mark Longo and his wife moved to upstate New York in 2023, where they set up P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary - named after their squirrel - to house all kinds of rescue animals.