NY bill would give critters due process after P'Nut the squirrel was seized, beheaded by DEC agents
State Republicans are pushing a bill that would give animals seized by the government a stay of execution after internet-famous P'Nut the Squirrel was decapitated by the government last year.
P'Nut's grieving owners Mark and Daniela Longo joined with state Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz (R-Nassau) at the state Capitol Tuesday to unveil 'Peanut's Law: The Humane Animal Protection Act' — which would require the Department of Environmental Conservation to wait 72 hours before euthanizing any seized animals.
'I sit here trying not to cry, but passing this law will be a movement to make sure that animal rights are not overlooked anymore,' an emotional Mark Longo told a large crowd gathered at the foot of the Capitol's Million Dollar Staircase.
'I loved those animals to death,' he added, referring to P'Nut and another pet named Fred the Squirrel that was seized in the same raid and also put down. 'And today is a day that we push forward to make sure that this tragedy never happens again.'
The owner wore a tiny cowboy hat P'Nut had worn in social media posts pinned to his lapel.
The critters were housed at the Longos' upstate farm before a DEC raid on Oct. 30, 2024 that officials said was sparked by anonymous complaints of animal mistreatment.
The animals' heads were cut off by state officials within hours so their brains could be tested for rabies after the frightened squirrel allegedly bit a handler's leather glove — setting off a massive backlash to the DEC's behavior.
'His death stopped people in their tracks, from the president of the United States to the chief justice of the Supreme Court, to celebrities to everyday New Yorkers,' said Assemblyman Blumencranz, who pointed out that the tests which cost P'Nut and Fred their lives came back negative for rabies.
'They were not dangerous. They were not sick. They were not wild threats roaming the streets. They were rescues — loved, nurtured, and safe,' he said.
'Here is the cold, hard truth. It is too little, too late. Words don't save P'Nut and Fred, and words won't save the next animal, or the next family, unless we change the law.'
The bill would also require an administrative hearing before any animals can be seized or euthanized from wildlife sanctuaries, unless their is hard proof of an immediate threat to the public.
During the announcement Tuesday, Longo and other speakers stood before a lectern adorned with banner emulating the yellow Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag — with the image of rattlesnake replaced by a squirrel perched atop the words 'Don't Tread on Me.'
There was also a picture of Fred, and one of P'Nut in his tiny one-gallon cowboy hat.
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