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.
If rabies ever “manifests” itself in a human being (a person experiences symptoms), there is a 99% fatality rate. In fact, only 15 people worldwide have ever recovered following the onset of symptoms, albeit with extensive brain damage.
Rabies really is a “magical” disease. Once it makes it to your brain, the blood-brain barrier protects it from any medicinal treatment possible. Your only chance is for your own immune system to defeat the infection, and again, that has only happened 15 times ever.
Yeah, I know but one thing it doesn’t do is magically manifest in a pet after seven years.