P’Nut the Squirrel Reportedly ‘Marked for Death’

The saga of P’Nut the Squirrel continues.

The animal was confiscated from his owner, euthanized, and tested for rabies because he reportedly bit someone during the raid of the home.

Now, there are reports that the squirrel’s fate was sealed long before that raid ever took place.

Marked for Death

The rabies test for P’Nut has already come back, with the squirrel testing negative, much as his owner, Mark Luongo, thought.

The negative results were confirmed by Chemung County Executive Christopher Moss on Tuesday.

The raid took place on October 30, but everyone is now pointing to a memo that was posted on October 23 by the Department of Health, which stated, “Wildlife cannot be confined like domestic animals, and if there was an exposure, the animals would need to be tested for rabies.”

For this test, the animal has to be decapitated so they can test its brain for rabies, so it would seem that the order was given long before any agents walked into that home.

When the raid plans were laid out, they were done in coordination with Elmira Animal Control to have the animal put down.

When Luongo was shown the timeline that appeared to seal the fate of P’Nut, he stated, “I’m in utter shock,” Longo told The Post when shown the timeline. “I’d like to give you a proper statement, but for now I’ll just say ‘Wow.'”

All this was set in motion by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), when it reached out to Chemung County executives.

The note stated, “DEC is aware of an individual in Chemung County who is known to illegally possess an adult gray squirrel and at least 4 young raccoons. They may also be in possession of other illegal wildlife species.

“We would like to know if the Health Department would recommend these animals be tested for rabies as a precaution for human safety.”

That note was more or less a death sentence P’Nut.

This entire incident has taken on a life of its own, so now that this information is out there, it will be interesting to see how P’Nut’s 500,000 social media fans react.