A squirrel made famous on social media has reached £121,000 in donations after being euthanised – and its heartbroken owners are now flogging a memorial t-shirt, too.
Peanut has more than 679,000 followers on Instagram, where his doting owner, Mark Longo, 34, shares videos of the duo enjoying life in New York.
Sadly, their seven years of cohabiting came to an abrupt end on Wednesday (30 October) when the Department of Environmental Conservation reportedly took the squirrel, following reports of “potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies” and the “illegal keeping of wildlife as pets”.
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They also took his raccoon, Fred, who had just recently joined the family.
Heartbroken Mark shared a lengthy post criticising those who had reported him and set up a petition to return Peanut home.
But later that day, it was confirmed that he had been euthanised.
A GoFundMe page had been launched to raise funds for potential legal expenses and to call on the DEC to “re-evaluate” their decision.
As of today (4 November), it has raised over $157,137 (USD) (£121,000) out of its $200,000 (£154,000) goal.
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Mark and Daniela have also swiftly created a memorial t-shirt, costing $30 (USD) (£23), with a cartoon photo of both animals in heaven, surrounded by flowers and with halos, reports What’s The Jam.
All funds will go to P’nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary in Pine City, New York.
Currently, 384 out of their goal of 50 have been flogged, raising a further $4,668 (USD) (£3,599).
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While it’s unclear what the large amount of funds is exactly going towards, Mark believes his non-profit animal rescue is going to suffer.
In an Instagram post, Mark wrote: “With over 350 rescues, we’ve relied heavily on PNUT and his internet family to gather donations to help more animals.
“I don’t even know how [we] will continue to fundraise for this non-profit.
“To the people who did this… THANK YOU for breaking apart a family and crushing any hopes of our non-profit to survive.”
Peanut – also known as ‘PNUT’ – was rescued by Mark seven years ago, after spotting the then-five-week-old critter wandering alone along a busy road in Connecticut after his mother had been run over by a car.
The baby squirrel was injured with only one eye open and had a bad back leg, so Mark took him home to nurse him back to health.
But after attempts to release Peanut back into the wild were unsuccessful, he decided to adopt him for good – and ever since, the pair have been inseparable.
The rodent had been involved with workout videos, NFTs, and also showing off his skills, including opening packages on his own.
According to reports, the couple believe someone ratted them out over jealousy due to their financial success – though this is only currently speculation.
Peanut’s death has sparked backlash online, with people using the hashtag #Justice4Peanut.
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