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Instagram-famous squirrel Peanut euthanized after it was taken from owner's New York state home (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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Peanut, who has amassed more than half a million Instagram followers, was euthanized by officials to be tested for rabies.

Peanut, the Instagram-famous squirrel that was seized from its owner's home Wednesday, has been euthanized by New York state officials. 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation took Peanut, as well as a raccoon named Fred, on Wednesday after the agency learned the animals were “sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies," it said in a joint statement with the Chemung County Department of Health.

Both Peanut and Fred were euthanized to test for rabies, the statement said. It was unclear when the animals were euthanized.

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[–] 27 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ridiculous and wholly unnecessary government overreach. Every official that touched this should be fired and publicly dragged through the mud.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    OK, we have very serious, and honestly, pants-shittingly paranoid responses to rabies for a really good fucking reason:

    If you show symptoms, you are dead. Period. And not a nice death.

    When I was young, you saw a wild dog, lot of people would reach for their rifle, it was just their reflex.

    Maybe we have to update the laws, but they are there for a reason, and one of those reasons is why we don't have too many rabies deaths in this country, and we are still considered one of the countries with high risk of rabies.

    Tl;Dr - don't fuck with rabies.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    They put the animals in isolation and re turn them when they are cleared. I know they can that's what happened to my neighbor's dog after it bit someone.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    They do that for dogs, cats and ferrets.

    Dogs, cats and ferrets

    Following rabies exposure, unvaccinated dogs, cats, and ferrets should be euthanized since no licensed biologics can ensure that they do not develop rabies. If the owner declines, dogs and cats need a strict 4-month quarantine, and ferrets need strict 6-month quarantine. They also need immediate rabies vaccination. Demonstrating an adequate serological response to vaccination may result in health officials reducing the quarantine period. Quarantine should be conducted in a secure facility that ensures people and other animals do not become exposed.

    Other mammals

    Other mammals should be euthanized immediately.

    https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/hcp/veterinarians/index.html

    We do not know how long rabies incubates in all animals, and they do NOT FUCK AROUND WITH THIS!!!

    I spoke to vets, their faces go to stone when rabies exposure seriously comes up, this is not a disease, it is a literal nightmare, the worst zombie scenario you can imagine made reality.

    It tears apart your mind completely and there is no treatment at all. Your family gets to watch.

    This is just nothing to fuck with.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yes i know how bad rabbies is. I was pointing out you can put the animals in isolation and see if they show signs on rabbies

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    How long?

    Ferrets can incubate for almost 6 months.

    Possums can carry forever with a dormant infection.

    Can the animal's immune system defeat the infection entirely, or merely send it back to a carrier state? How do you characterize the behavior of the species in different stages of infection?

    We don't know, because experimenting on these fuckers is nightmarishly dangerous, and we would have to test literally each mammal.

    The plan is to wipe out rabies forever so we never have to deal with it, which is what happened in Europe, and which we could do here except our livestock tend to graze alongside wild animals.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Considering that most mammals can carry rabbies ending the disease is impossible.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    They basically ended it in Europe and Australia.

    Also, incidence has plummeted incredibly over the past century, though we had an uptick a decade ago.

    We could effectively eliminate it, but the greatest generation cared about that, they feared it rightfully, we don't anymore.

    The reason it's coming back is just complacency.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Those officials think rabies is like a magical disease. It suddenly manifests are seven years. What a bunch of trash humans.

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