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.
Anyone bitten by
a wildan animal should be treated for rabies. To wait for the animal to be tested, quickly or slowly, is just foolish. This animal could have been quarantined and observed without any danger to the bite victim.edit: the animal needn’t be wild, just as this one was not.
the prophylactic really fucking sucks to take AFAIK, you want to avoid it just a little bit less than rabies.
The newer vaccine is far less painful and even then, there’s not much that’s as bad as rabies.
You want to avoid rabies harder than anything other than being immolated… and really that still might be preferable because it is faster.
The vaccine was separate from the post-exposure prophylactic I had thought. I will look it up for myself.