On Sunday, JD Vance told supporters that Donald Trump is “fired up” after New York wildlife authorities euthanized Peanut the Squirrel. Vance, the presidential nominee’s running mate, was campaigning in Sanford, North Carolina when he brought up the Instagram-famous squirrel’s death. The Ohio senator claimed he and Trump got talking about the matter when Trump questioned if the Democrats murdered Peanut and called him the “Elon Musk of squirrels.”
Donald Trump asked JD Vance if the Democrats killed the ‘Elon Musk of squirrels’
While addressing a crowd during the Sanford rally, JD Vance talked about his conversation with Donald Trump about Peanut the Squirrel’s death. Vance claimed that “Don’s fired up about Peanut the squirrel.” He then talked about how Trump asked him, “Is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels,” referring to Peanut, to which Vance replied in affirmative.
JD Vance also criticized the opposition’s immigration policies. He stated, “The same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country doesn’t want us to have pets. It’s the craziest – the craziest thing.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk paid tribute to Peanut the Squirrel with a photo of him with the man who took him in, Mark Longo. Musk wrote in an X (formerly Twitter) post, “President @realDonaldTrump will save the squirrels. RIP P’Nut.”
CNN stated that on Wednesday, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation seized Peanut the Squirrel and a rescued raccoon named Fred. Officials confiscated the animals from Mark Longo’s home in rural Pine City after receiving complaints that he had been keeping animals illegally. However, the squirrel bit an official during the investigation and thus they had to put him down to run tests for rabies. The DEC and the Chemung County Health Department announced that they also euthanized the raccoon.
