Everything here is moving fast and I had a crazy week - Performing at a halloween party Thursday and club dates / corporate gigs all Friday-Sun. Weekends are always hard for me to stay on top of the thread so forgive me for being behind.
Anyway, as the Farm's resident Squirrel Rehabber (I don't know if I've ever mentioned it in this thread but I have in other threads on the farms) I just want to offer some perspective or information that might not be available to anyone outside the rehabber circle. The missus and I have been Squirrel rehabbers for the better part of almost 9 years and we've rescued, rehabbed, and released somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 squirrels. This is actually purely volunteer work as in NY state it is illegal to charge to rehabbing and has to come out of your pocket or from donations. Even nature centers have to exist purely off donations. So with busy schedules as professional musicians, somehow we also manage to find the time to syringe feed anywhere from 5-12 squirrels 6 months of the year, every 4 hours around the clock! Anyway feel free to ignore the following squirrel sperging about this situation.
I actually knew about the Peanut raid as it was happening before it was picked up by any news services as Mark was posting live to the squirrel rehabber group as it was happening. Obviously we were all horrified by what was being reported to us. The squirrel rehabbing circle is extremely small and most of us all know each other very well - even the famous instagram squirrels and all that. It's kinda surreal to even see fellow rehabbers that I'm extremely familiar with being interviewed by news media for their opinions.
Mark has been a thorn in the side of the rehabber world for a very long time. Sadly he's a hardcore narcissist and attention whore and the care and health of peanut quite often came second to his desire to post vids for likes and followers. He's been called out often by rehabbers about this and like the douche nozzle he is, his response is generally, "Fuck you, I can do what I want".
Most of the squirrel rehabbers and instagram accounts are very secretive about posting any identifying details. And most of it is because of exactly this - we do not trust the government agencies in the slightest. In fact we keep a sort of "underground railroad" of veterinarians who are friendly to squirrels because you can't even trust vets. Most vets consider squirrels to be pests and there have been accounts of vets actually euthanizing squirrels that were brought to them for help. This problem got so bad that rehabbers were able to band together in about 2010 and force the American Veterinary Association to make it illegal for a vet to refuse to administer aid to an injured animal, such as a squirrel.
Mark has been warned repeatedly over the years, over and over, that his constant attention seeking and using peanut as a tool to feed his narcissism can only end badly as eventually he'd get the attention of the government agencies. He constantly posted his real name and his location on top of it. Again, his attitude was constantly "Fuck you, I can do what I want". He does not run a legitimate squirrel rescue. His "rescue" is for farm animals and horses, which is a different thing altogether. I'm not saying that he didn't deserve to have Peanut, if he wanted to keep a non-releasable that's one thing, but to not have a legitimate wildlife rescue while plastering social media with videos of your squirrel and your real name is asking to get ass-raped by daddy government. You might say "Well, horses...squirrels...what's the difference?" The difference matters to Daddy Government who loves to fucking compartmentalize and regulate every fucking thing so they charge you for it.
When he added Fred the Racoon, the rehabber world lost their shit, and for good reason. Racoons are a Rabies Vector species. It basically means they already carry rabies in their system. What that means is that if a Raccoon bites you, there's a very good chance you'll get rabies from them, even if they're not rabid. There are three Rabies Vector species - Racoons, Skunks, and Bats. For a legitimate rehabber, once you get licensed for wildlife (Squirrels, possums, owls, etc) if you want to rehab a rabies vector species, you have to get a special rehabber license. To get the rabies vector license, first you have to be a regular licensed rehabber for 5 years. After 5 years you can apply for your rabies vector license. If you pass the rabies vector test (all about care and handling of animals that naturally have rabies) and you get licensed, you have to actually get rabies shots before you're even allowed to start rehabbing rabies vector species animals. As a knowledgeable rehabber, I tell people constantly to NEVER handle a Racoon. If you find an injured racoon, you need to contact a rabies vector rehabber immediately and do not handle the racoon. If you need to handle the racoon for whatever reason, then make sure to wear gloves.
Raccoons in particular are a nightmare because they carry a lot of parasites that are harmful to both animals and humans. In particular they carry a parasite that goes right to your brain and starts working on it causing neurological damage. This is why I tell people to never touch an injured racoon. Racoon feces is also loaded with very toxic bacteria that can kill other animals who come into contact with it. For example, when I was moving out of Queens, I hired a company to clean out my garage. When they went to the attic of my garage, it turned out that I had a raccoon living up there I didn't know about. The workers refused to clean out the racoon because they didn't have biohazard suits with them. That's fucking garage cleaners and even they know to stay the fuck away from raccoons. This should give you an idea how uneducated Mark is.
So the rehabber world lost their shit and for good reason. First, because he was now putting Peanut at a severe risk for illness, rabies, sickness, etc. just by being around Fred the Racoon. All you need is for fred to be in a bad mood one day and to nip peanut and peanut can catch rabies. This underscored the belief among rehabbers that Mark really doesn't care about the health or care of the animals but rather does this all for likes.
Second, because of the all the crazy shit I just told you about Raccoons, the government is extremely strict on Racoons / Rabies vector species. They DO NOT look kindly upon people bringing Raccoons into their homes. So now by Mark adding a Raccoon, he actually increased his risk 100 fold of being raided by the government. And he was told over and over that if the government confiscates peanut, peanut will be destroyed. The government does not give animals back. Rehabbers already know this, which is why we don't give the government a chance to get them to begin with. As usual, Mark ignored us all. And true to this, the FOIA requests so far for the paperwork on the raid was show that the raid was about the racoon, not peanut. Whoever that chick is, who reported peanut and is on the internet's hate list at the moment, she might have reported peanut, but it was Fred the racoon that prompted the raid.
This is not excusing the government in the slightest - what they did is horrifying and a total abuse of power, but in the rehabber world there is also an equal amount of righteous anger being directed at Mark because this fucking retarded mongoloid was warned over and over that this is what was going to fucking happen and he refused to listen and now a squirrel needlessly died because of his fucking obsession with being famous.
Also for the record, Squirrels don't carry rabies. Unless the animal is already rabid and foaming at the mouth, etc. But you have nothing to fear from a squirrel bite. Fuck I get bit 5 times a week for the past 9 years lol. They DO carry Tetanus so you have to be up on your tetanus shot and if you're just a regular person and you get bit by a squirrel in the park or something that's what your doctor would tell you to do - go get a tetanus shot. So that cop who was crying about how peanut bit him and he had to get tested for rabies is utter bullshit. That cop is a bitch.
Now as far as what the government did - this is insane. I've never heard of this, ever. I talked to a couple of the nature centers I'm partnered with (where I get my rescues from when people drop them off) and in one case, a woman who's been running a nature center for over 40 years and works with DEC frequently told me that she's never seen anything like this in her 40 years and she's horrified as well. There is no precedent for how they did this and none of this makes any sense. I really want to see heads roll. This has had a chilling effect in the rehabber world. Some well known instagrams are going to be pulling them down out of fear. Other rehabbers, instead of being more open with the department of fish and wildlife, DEC, etc. are going to go more "underground" and just be quiet about everything and not file anymore paperwork out of fear. NY State really, REALLY fucked up with this. Mark might be a fucking mongoloid but I really hope he makes life hell for all the agencies involved and sues the shit out of everyone.
On another note, in a million years, the world of squirrel rehabbing I inhabit is the last thing I ever expected to collide with the trump campaign less than a week before an election and it's so surreal to see the patriots win site reposting interviews with rehabbers and yelling about avenging peanut and to think that the death of a squirrel might be the final straw and the biggest display of government abuse and overreach and might help carry Trump over the finish line. Man, life really is a strange place.
In closing you might ask, "Man, rehabbing squirrels sounds like a ton of work and you can't get paid for it. Why do you do it?" Honestly because I love squirrels more than you can imagine and more importantly, Luke 12:48 - "To whom much is given, much will be expected". I've been really blessed in both my life and my music career and as I entered the later part of my 40s I started to become acutely aware that I really haven't done much to justify the blessings I've been given and I haven't done much to give back, either. So it might be a large sacrifice, but it's one I make willingly.
God bless you all my fellow Kiwis!
