US Elections: 'Justice for Peanut' trends as Mark Longo raises whopping donation for euthanised squirrel

After Elon Musk and other supporters of Republican White House nominee Donald Trump on Sunday slammed Democrats for the euthanasia of an Instagram-famous squirrel named Peanut, the former US president's VP pick JD Vance too echoed the sentiments on Sunday while campaigning in North Carolina's Sanford, saying Trump was "fired up" about the squirrel's death.

Peanut the Squirrel, which was rescued by Mark Longo after its mother was run over by a car, was popular on Instagram and won the hearts of followers through videos. Some of the viral videos include Peanut nibbling on waffles, donning tiny hats and costumes and jumping through hoops. The page had 540,000 followers as of Sunday.

Since April 2023, Longo and his wife Daniela has been running an animal sanctuary, P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, which has around 300 animals. 

Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon were "forcefully" seized from Longo's home on October 30 after the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) received complaints over "unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies". Following this, the authorities euthanised both the animals.

Calling it the "craziest thing", Vance said the government does not care about illegal immigrants but also does not want people to have pets. The GoFundMe page launched by the Republican VP nominee has raised $140,000 when this report was filed.

Besides Vance, Republicans like New York Congressman Nick Langworthy also slammed the "unnannounced raid", saying the state has sanctuaries for illegal immigrants but not for innocent pets.

Last month, Trump kicked up controversy over allegations that Haitian immigrants in the country were eating cats.