A woman accused of snitching on an Instagram-famous squirrel is pleading with the internet to stop sending her death threats after the viral animal was put down.
Peanut the internet-famous squirrel was put down after someone alerted authorities that a couple had been keeping him in their home without a license, as the squirrel was a wild animal. Peanut was seized by New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, and later put down after he allegedly bit someone during the investigation, as reported by the Associated Press.
@peanut_the_squirrel12 RIP MY BEST FRIEND. Thank you for the best 7 years of my life. Thank you for bringing so much joy to us and the world. I’m sorry I failed you but thank you for everything ❤️ Yall we desperately need your help. Help us raise the money to fight this and help @pnuts_freedom_farm continue to help animals like peanut
♬ original sound - Peanut_the_squirrel12
Fans of Peanut, who has more than 700,000 followers on Instagram, were shocked by the news. In the time following, some claimed that a woman named Monica Keasler allegedly admitted to reporting Peanut in a now-deleted TikTok.
This is #Monicakeasler who made the reports against #Peanut and #Fred ... and making it clear she was only worried about her rights pic.twitter.com/7EDbVVWf0k
— Francesca 🪬 .•*•.*.• (@Agent0fCrypto) November 3, 2024
While Keasler's account has since been made private, a woman named Monica Kessler posted a video on Sunday claiming that she has been receiving death threats because people are confusing her for Keasler.
"What up TikTok, it's the most hated girl on the internet for all the wrong reasons. [I do not have] the same last name. If you open a video, and you're going to comment anything hateful, it takes two seconds to see many many people have commented saying it's not me," Kessler said in the TikTok.
Kessler continued, "No, I didn't have anything to do with a squirrel. Never reported a squirrel. Didn't know anything about Peanut the squirrel until Saturday morning."
New York does not allow wild animals to live indoors with unlicensed residents. Peanut's owner Mark Longo said he was in the process of obtaining the license when Peanut was taken.
"RIP MY BEST FRIEND. Thank you for the best 7 years of my life. Thank you for bringing so much joy to us and the world. I'm sorry I failed you but thank you for everything," Longo wrote on Instagram.
Originally published by Latin Times.
