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.
But you cannot test for rabies without killing the animal. Rabies infections spread up the nervous system to the brain in hours, not weeks.
The animal bit a human, at that point nothing could be done.
You can vaccinate the bitten human right away without any test, which is how it’s really done. Waiting for test results is not a good idea. If the vaccine didn’t work (it does work if administered in time), then there would be no help for the person. Testing is unnecessary.
You always get vaccinated for an animal bite immediately no matter what. There are additional doses and close observation for confirmed cases.
No vaccine is 100% effective. They need to test for rabies in case the vaccine doesn’t work properly so they can take extra care to prevent issues. If it comes back negative, fine. If it comes back positive then you need to take extreme care or the person is going to die. I’d rather a squirrel, which someone should have as a pet anyway, die instead of a person. There’s no way that house was ideal for a squirrel unless they lived in a forest.
Edit: reading the information someone else posted, it is 100% effective, but not just with one shot. Several doses need to be administered several days apart. If the test comes back negative, those don’t need to be taken.