The owners of a pet squirrel with a massive social media following are going nuclear on government officials in New York ... accusing the state of abusing power and wasting taxpayer funds to seize and kill Peanut, all because of some anonymous claims.
01:56And then we started a non-profit animal rescue called Peanut's Freedom Farm
02:00to help animals like Peanut fight a good fight when they're in a neglected case or they're sitting in a slaughter auction.
02:06And he was the cornerstone of our life and our organization.
02:09We used his platform to help raise money for the 300 animals we have at our sanctuary.
02:14How did you find out that they euthanized Peanut?
02:19They haven't messaged me. They haven't called me.
02:21They haven't given me a formal statement whatsoever.
02:24The last time I heard from the DEC was when they left my house.
02:27Another news station called me with their statement, and that's how I found out Peanut is gone.
02:32They didn't even have the heart to call me themselves to tell me what was going on.
02:36This state has more problems than a squirrel and a raccoon,
02:39and we're using our taxpayers' dollars to help take these animals out of a comfortable place all because of some paperwork?
02:45The statement released that Peanut bit one of the people.
02:49Peanut's bitten me five times in seven years.
02:52Peanut also is an animal that only knows me.
02:55So why wouldn't you have protective gloves on and protective equipment to allow an animal like him that to bite you?
03:00Also, to be honest with you, I don't buy it whatsoever.
03:04I didn't know about squirrels ever in my life,
03:08but when I came to Peanut a couple years ago, he would have never bitten me.
03:14The complaints, we're told, are anonymous.
03:18So anonymous claims got the state to get a search warrant,
03:23which was signed by multiple different departments and a judge.
03:28So I want to know what the evidence was that this was such a devastating thing to the community
03:35that we had to waste taxpayers' dollars and ruin a family in a nonprofit animal rescue because we have power?
03:42Will you be taking some legal action?
03:46Oh, the firefight has just begun.
03:50This needs to be used as an example of how this state uses their resources and their power.
03:56Not only that, the only source of income and donations have come from Peanut's social media.
04:02I don't know how I'm going to run the nonprofit animal rescue with over 300 animals at my sanctuary right now without the funding from Peanut.
04:09My wife and I work three jobs to pay the other 50% of the $20,000 we have to accumulate in funding a month for these animals.
04:18They just took my best friend for the last seven years.
04:22And we'll never bring him back.
04:24And the sanctuary is called Peanut's Freedom Farm.
04:27And you just took Peanut out of the Freedom Farm of our organization.
04:31And everybody looked at it like it was just nothing.
04:35This is the DEC who is supposed to be helping animals out of bad cases.
04:40And you came to a case that had animals in good possession, and you took them and killed them.
04:45Not only that, you just put the entire organization in jeopardy because I don't know how we're going to fund this organization anymore without this social media.
