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stated on November 2, 2024 in a photo:

Photo shows Donald Trump statement condemning the Peanut the squirrel’s euthanasia

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)

By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu November 4, 2024

No, Donald Trump didn't say this about Peanut the squirrel

If Your Time is short

Peanut, an internet famous squirrel, was put down after New York state officials said it bit someone.
A viral statement attributed to former President Donald Trump is fake. We found no evidence of the statement on Trump’s website or social media accounts.
A Trump campaign spokesperson told the New York Post the statement is fake.

See the sources for this fact-check

New York state officials seized and euthanized an internet famous squirrel, Peanut, and a racoon named Fred. The incident sparked an online uproar that included a familiar topic: 2024 election misinformation.

"Well, Peanut found his way into the presidential election," a Nov. 2 Facebook post said, featuring a statement attributed to former President Donald Trump on what looks like a campaign press release.

"New York authorities, under their terrible Governor, put more effort into finding an eliminating a squirrel, who was innocent by all accounts, than they do to control the unchecked illegal immigrants who have flooded into their state," the statement said.

X posts

stated on October 27, 2024 in an X post

Image shows an anti-Trump billboard outside Madison Square Garden.

The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

Peanut the squirrel and Fred were both seized by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation from their owner Mark Longo. Longo had cared for the squirrel for seven years. An Instagram account dedicated to Peanut the squirrel has more than 700,000 followers. Officials said the two animals were put down to test for rabies after Peanut bit a person involved in the investigation.

(Screengrab from Facebook)

But Trump did not release this statement, a review of Trump's campaign website and social media accounts show.

Although Trump has not released a statement on Peanut, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has used language similar to the fake statement’s when talking about Peanut and said Trump was "fired up" about the euthanization of the animals.

"The same government that doesn't care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country, doesn't want us to have pets," Vance said at a Nov. 3 rally in Sanford, North Carolina.

We reached out to the Trump campaign but did not receive a reply. A spokesperson told The New York Post the statement was fake.

Approved rabies testing in animals requires that the animal be euthanized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

We rate the claim that this statement about Peanut’s death was made by Trump False.