P’nut the Squirrel’s death has sparked an outpouring of donations with an online fundraising page raking in well over $158,000 cash just days after the furry Internet sensation was euthanized by New York state officials — sparking outrage from the community and local lawmakers.
The GoFundMe page set up for P’nut’s owners, Mark and Daniela Longo, has been inundated with more than 3,800 donations as outrage continues to mount over the seven-year-old gray rescue squirrel’s demise.
As of early Monday, the page — called “Call For Justice for Peanut the Squirrel and NYSDEC Reform” — had raised just over $158,500.
The tiny creature has been making headlines ever since P’nut and and his pal, a raccoon named Fred, were seized by state Department of Environmental Conservation officials and euthanized last week following anonymous complaints over rabies fears.
The squirrel’s death has sparked so much fury that it prompted a state lawmaker to propose legislation to improve animal-rights statutes — calling the bill “Peanuts Law: Humane Animal Protection Act.”
The outcry also triggered the outpouring of donations, as well as the hashtage “#Justice4Peanut” to spread on social media.
The cash is being donated towards the P’nuts Freedom Farm — the 350-acre animal refuge that the Longos run near Elmira in upstate New York, according to the page.
DEC officials took P’nut and Fred from the property last Wednesday after obtaining a warrant to search the premises — mainly because of the raccoon.
P’nut, who was notably friendly and docile through the course of his public-facing life, had bitten an agent during the search and needed to be tested for rabies, officials said in the aftermath.
The state then announced on Friday that both P’nut and Fred had been euthanized.
The Longos have since speculated that someone anonymously alerted them to officials because the couple had been using the furry Internet sensation — who has his own social media pages and fame — to help steer followers to their raunchy OnlyFans account.
“Maybe it’s someone who thinks I use this place to make a lot of money,” Mark told The Post of his rescue farm.
“Did this do wonders to my OnlyFans?” Mark said of the site, where P’nut frolicked along with other animals. “Absolutely. It’s making a lot of money from this.”