Michael Allen's Blog: Michael Allen Online - Posts Tagged "peanut"

It was bizarre how America, and others throughout the world, reacted to the murder of Peanut the Squirrel. Of course, animals deserve our affection and protection but something deeper was running through us all on that one and I don’t think anyone has stopped to give it any thought.

When the NYDEC raided a couple’s home to confiscate their pet squirrel and raccoon, they treated the husband and wife like criminals as they ransacked the whole house. Before there was any time to react, they had already euthanized the animals. Twitter went crazy. Names were doxed. There were bomb threats! Now, the agency has to answer for its actions and the fans of these two infamous victims will never be happy, not by the looks of it now anyway.

Peanut the Squirrel was rescued by Mark and Daniela Longo, which is what led to a very huge following on Instagram and the beginning of P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. Fans mourned the death of Freddy the Raccoon as well. It was just that Peanut was a bit more famous and it was his name that went viral. Then one day, he was gone!

Nothing else that happened that week was as important. There was a lot going on, like an upcoming election. That’s pretty big news. Of course, the election did get the most attention. But Peanut the Squirrel came in at a very close second.

A hunter was found dead in the woods, JPMorgan faced an ATM scam with what they termed an Infinite Money Glitch, and Starbucks decided to start serving coffee in nicer mugs. Those were some of the other headlines that ran that week but they were missed because of everyone’s love for a pet squirrel and raccoon.

There is literally a bill being introduced called Peanut’s Law that will impose a mandatory 72-hour waiting period before a confiscated sanctuary animal is allowed to be euthanized. Something strange yet powerfully bonding happened when the sad news of a squirrel and a raccoon brought us all together with everything else that was going on in the world.