Elon Musk joins ranks of conservatives turning ‘Peanut the squirrel’ into ‘government overreach’ symbol

The squirrel death has rallied conservation forces, from Donald Trump to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to Musk, who have criticized the DEC’s actions. Over the weekend, Musk wrote on X several times about the event, calling DEC’s intervention a form of “government overreach”.

“The government should not be allowed to enter your home to kill your pet! It’s messed up,” Musk said in a post on X Saturday. “Even if it’s a crime to have a pet squirrel (which it shouldn’t be), why would you kill a PNut to instead of releasing it into the forest!?”

Republican vice president JD Vance said Sunday at a rally in Sanford, North Carolina that Trump’s deputy was “upset” about the squirrel’s death. Republicans have tried to call for compassion for animals as a rallying cry against the government, spreading the false story that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats.

“The same government that doesn’t care about the hundreds of thousands of illegal criminals coming into our country, doesn’t want us to have pets,” Vance said. It’s the craziest thing ever.

Conservatives rallying around Peanut comes days before an election with no predicted winner and signs that Trump is losing steam. Polls last week showed Trump leading Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but a recent poll in Iowa now gives Harris a slim edge in the predominantly red state. Prediction markets favoring Trump to win the election followed a similar reversal and now favor Harris. Parent Trump’s Social Media and Technology Group, considered a barometer of his re-election chances, fell 41% in three days last week, wiping out $2.4 billion in Trump’s fortune.

The squirrel death has also inspired the launch of peanut-themed cryptocurrencies, including Solana-based Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) memecoin, which rose to a market capitalization of more than $140 million last weekend .

What happened to Peanut?

The state DEC took Peanut and a raccoon named Fred from Longo’s home on Wednesday after complaints that the animals were being kept in an unsafe and illegal manner. The DEC and Chemung County Health Department said in a statement to CBS News that two animals were seized and prepared for rabies testing. Moshala bit one of the people involved in the investigation, according to the statement. DEC did not respond Good luck‘s request for feedback.

New York state law requires a permit for those who want to own a wild animal. Longo found Peanut seven years ago after the mother squirrel was hit by a car.

“Honestly, this kind of still makes sense, that the country I live in really killed me and took two of the most beloved animals on this planet, it didn’t put them aside,” Longo said Associated Press. They took them from my house and just killed them.

Confirmation of Peanut’s death resulted in an outpouring of support for Longo and his wife, who in April 2023 founded P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. A GoFundMe raised more than $160,000 to support the sanctuary.