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Peanut was a beloved pet, but is it legal to own a squirrel?

Vaseline November 3, 2024

Fans have been in an uproar since internet sensation Peanut the squirrel was seized from his owner’s home and euthanized by New York officials this week for what they say was the unfair killing of a beloved family member.

Peanut and a raccoon named Fred were both taken Wednesday from Mark Longo’s home in Pine City, in the south-central part of New York along the Pennsylvania border, after the county health department and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation responded. a statement said it had received reports of “potentially unsafe housing of wild animals that could transmit rabies and the illegal keeping of wild animals as pets.”

Two days later, the two agencies announced that the two animals had been euthanized to test them for rabies, sparking outrage on the social media massive that Longo and Peanut had amassed. Longo and Peanut’s fans, and even a lawmaker, have criticized the callousness and force with which they say the home was raided and the decision to euthanize the animals without recourse for their owner.

In many parts of the country it is not legal to keep wild animals as pets, but people with licensed wildlife rehabilitators can legally care for them in New York as long as they plan to release them back into the wild once they get better are. It is not clear whether Longo has gone through or started the process of becoming a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, but he had also founded a non-profit organization called P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary.

The whole ordeal has the New York rehabilitation community on edge, says squirrel rehabilitator Rachel Tindal, who runs the Chip & Chloe Squirrel Rescue in Rochester, named after the first two squirrels she sheltered. Tindal said she hopes the Peanut ordeal won’t stop other people from getting a permit to do this important work.

“The whole way it was handled in this case is the worst nightmare of any rehabilitation,” Tindal told USA TODAY. “We do this work because we love animals… We don’t get paid for this. We give up our time, we give up our sleep, our money to do this to save animals.”

The early days of Peanut the squirrel

Longo first took Peanut into his home seven years ago when he found the squirrel as a baby. Longo saw Peanut’s mother get hit by a car and die, so Longo took Peanut in when he couldn’t find a rescue organization that would take him. At first it was intended to be temporary so that Peanut could return to living outside when he was able, but Longo told USA TODAY in 2022 that Peanut did not do well when he was released and was injured trying to live outside, so Longo brought him back inside.

Longo also took in other animals after founding the nonprofit last year. Eighteen horses, one miniature horse, four cows, three alpacas, one parrot, one pig and two geese call the sanctuary home, according to the website.

Longo told CBS New York that when DEC officials came to his home, officers used excessive force in their search and when they took the squirrel and raccoon. He said the raid lasted several hours.

Officials said the squirrel bit one of the researchers involved in the seizure and both animals taken were later euthanized to be tested for rabies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a rabies test involves a “complete cross-section of tissue from both the brain stem and cerebellum” and there are no approved methods to test animals for rabies while they are still alive.

Although raccoons are known vectors for rabies, squirrels rarely contract rabies, according to the CDC. In fact, a human in the U.S. has never contracted rabies from a squirrel, according to the DC Department of Health.

Is it legal to keep squirrels and other wildlife as pets?

In many states it is illegal to keep squirrels as pets. Some states, such as Idaho, allow certain types of squirrels to be kept as pets, but only if you follow a strict licensing process.

In New York, where Longo and Tindal, from the squirrel rescue, live, squirrels are not pets. If you find a squirrel or other animal in need of help in that state, you should find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to care for it and eventually release it back into the wild, Tindal said.

Still, Tindal says many people end up keeping squirrels as pets. It’s common for someone to come across an injured squirrel or similar animal and want to help, she said. Because licensed rehabilitators are all volunteers and receive no government funding, it can be difficult to find someone willing to foster another squirrel. So people end up keeping them and caring for the squirrels themselves, and usually after a while they realize that squirrels are not suitable pets.

Some squirrels fail to rehabilitate and are deemed unfit to return to the wild because they have left a mark on the people who care for them and never develop the typical survival skills of squirrels. But it’s very rare for a squirrel to become as affectionate and loving as Peanut, Tindal said.

“Having squirrels as pets is never a good idea,” Tindal said. “They are very destructive, they are aggressive and it is very difficult to care for them in captivity.”

But in those rare cases, she said squirrels can develop strong bonds with people. They are intelligent and can solve problems; have little attitude and can be even more sympathetic than a cat or dog.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida is one of the few states that does not require a permit to own a pet squirrel. For that reason, Tindal said she’s heard of people uprooting their entire lives to move to Florida to legally keep the squirrels, which eventually become like family members.

Raccoons may have even stricter regulations because they are considered a vector species for rabies, meaning they are more likely to carry and transmit rabies. Even licensed wildlife rehabilitation centers must meet additional requirements to treat raccoons in New York and many other states.

How do you become a wildlife rehabilitator?

The process of legally caring for certain types of restricted wildlife varies by state, but virtually anyone who wants to help rehabilitate a squirrel or similar animal in the U.S. will need a state and possibly federal permit government.

In New York, wildlife sanctuaries require a permit to take in squirrels in need of help. They can only be kept for a few months before they need to be reintroduced into the wild, Tindal said.

“When we receive our wildlife rehabilitation permits, we are all instructed that under no circumstances should we keep wild animals as pets,” she said.

If the squirrel has persistent medical or behavioral problems that make it ‘unreleasable’, it can be euthanized or left to live in captivity – but the rehabilitator must undertake a much more intensive process to keep an unreleasable animal.

Tindal said she is now going through that extra process to continue caring for Cole, a squirrel with medical issues that are stunting his growth. Cole never developed squirrel behavior such as aggression toward people, she said.

To keep a squirrel longer, a rehabilitator must apply for a permit from the federal government, and those officials send researchers to examine the animal’s habitat and make sure it is safe. Caregivers are required to obtain regular veterinary care for the animal, and a veterinarian must write a letter explaining why the animal cannot be released. In New York, the rehabilitator must then apply for a special state permit.

The entire process can take a long time, Tindal said. “It’s quite an intimidating process to go through all the paperwork, and then I imagine someone would be intimidated or even scared by that because as soon as you start the application process, they know you have this animal.”

“We were ready to comply. We were ready to complete the paperwork. We were in the process of doing that,” Longo told CBS New York. “We needed some guidance from the DEC.”

Contributing: Greta Cross, USA TODAY