For a Fistful of Dollars

Of squirrels and men

From mainstream to indie news, every medium is awash in reports about the seizure and euthanasia of Peanut, a squirrel on Instagram and TikTok with a following of over 2 million. Some of those reporting and reacting to the news are trying to attribute the deeds to “Democrats” as a dig just before Election Day, but that misses the larger concern about the nature of government itself.

Quickly to recap, seven years ago Mark Longo saw a squirrel hit by a car in New York City, leaving its baby at the roadside. Longo took baby Peanut homewards and cared for him during eight months before trying to release Peanut back to the wild. Peanut returned injured to Longo after a day, so Longo let Peanut into his home. After some domestication, Peanut was performing cute tricks in videos posted to social media, which gained such wide popularity that Longo and his wife were able to monetize a foundation, P’Nut’s Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, to shelter neglected and homeless animals of all kinds. On Wednesday, October 30^th, 2024, agents of New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation executed a search warrant for Longo’s home and seized Peanut. As it stands, government prohibits a citizen from owning “wild” animals unless the citizen pays for a special license. Longo was in fact trying to get Peanut certified as an educational animal, so he was trying to comply with licensing.

But all that is now moot, as the government euthanized Peanut right away. The government which claims to act in animals’ interests thought it best to kill the animal outright. Whilst it is true that tests for rabies cannot be performed ante mortem, it is also true that another method to determine whether the fatal test need be administered is simply to quarantine the animal and observe it for a few days. Hmm, if only there were visual recordings of Peanut archived over the course of seven years which officials could have reviewed before racing to the irreversible!

The plain fact is that had Mark Longo paid for the special license, then government would never have raided his home to kill Peanut. Stated another way, for a fistful of dollars, Peanut would have “earned” the right not to be exterminated.

Which brings to mind another case from ten years ago, that of Eric Garner in Staten Island. On July 17^th, 2014, four NYPD officers tackled Garner and strangled him to death over the course of seven minutes… for selling untaxed cigarettes. Stated another way, for a fistful of dollars in kickbacks to the NYPD, Garner would have earned the right not to be exterminated in broad daylight.

By no means am I comparing Eric Garner’s life to that of a squirrel. What I am saying here is that to government we entrust the power of life or death, expecting it to be exercised only in cases of life or death, which is the only time it is justified. No moral government would kill a defenseless pet much less a human being over a fistful of dollars.