Peanut, a baby white tail deer suffering from vision impairment, is facing a death sentence from Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The disabled fawn, who couldn’t hurt a soul if she tried, resides peacefully at the Detroit Animal Welfare Group in Macomb County. That is, until Whitmer’s ghouls get their hands on her.
Whitmer’s Department of Natural Resources has ordered Peanut to be euthanized. Why? Because the deadline to license Peanut as an “education ambassador” had passed. The fawn could be a victim of a heartless bureaucracy rigidly sticking to the rules to justify its existence.
It’s not clear how exactly Whitmer’s administration would snuff out Peanut. A gun? Toxic gas? Lethal injection? Strangulation? But why does the government have this power anyway?
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It’s similar to PNut, a squirrel rescued by New Yorker Mark Longo in 2017. Longo nursed the orphaned squirrel through his early years, but it’s illegal to tame a squirrel in the Empire State, and we know what that means: PNut, who became a folk hero among those who despise Government Gone Wild, was sentenced to death by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D-NY) Department of Environmental Conservation.
An aside: If you live in an oppressive blue state, don’t name your rescue animal “Peanut.” It doesn’t seem to end well.
Peanut, the blind deer, could have just days to live if Whitmer’s administration has its way. State Rep. Angela Rigas, a Republican who leads one of the House oversight subcommittees, said in a release, “These animals are not threats—they are survivors,” referring to a coyote named Kota that is also in DAWG’s care.
“Peanut and Kota have been cared for by licensed professionals and were intended to serve as education ambassadors. Their lives are now being taken over arbitrary deadlines and bureaucratic technicalities. Governor Whitmer must commute the death sentences of these animals.”
Rigas said this is the kind of government overreach her committee has been investigating.
Earlier this year, the committee heard testimony from musician and Michigan outdoorsman Ted Nugent and farmers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, regarding the DNR’s controversial 2012 Invasive Species Order and its enforcement against pig farmers and game ranch owners.
The DNR sued Nugent for having “feral Russian Boar” on his property. In the hearing, Nugent pointed out that feral refers to an escaped domestic animal, and his pigs lived on his preserve. This was a clear case of government overreach.
The term Russian boar doesn’t even have a concrete definition, yet the DNR uses that terminology to enforce their Invasive Species Order. The hearing exposed that the DNR has been using deception and undercover enforcement agents to infiltrate farms and kill pigs. Do we really need government raids on pig farms?
Government is out of control when the Department of Natural Resources comes in to slaughter the natural resources. They could easily work with farmers to address concerns about an animal or animals, but instead, they wave their badges and the executions begin. Pig ranches in Michigan have gone from 75 to five since the 2012 order went into effect.
“At the end of the day, this is about bureaucracy not wanting industry to survive,” said Republican state Rep. David Prestin. “The DNR has been at war with the breeders and the game farms since 2012. It’s a war that even they can’t explain because they’re trying to get rid of an invasive species that doesn’t actually exist. The DNR is just running around threatening honest game farm operations with scary-looking pigs.”
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The governor has the chance to do the right thing with Peanut and Kota. Rigas is fed up with the tyrannical government, stating, “The blood of Peanut and Kota will be on the Governor’s hands if she does not act. This is not just about wildlife—it’s about compassion, common sense, and the proper role of government.”
We can only hope the public outrage injures Whitmer’s ego. It’s clear that the only thing that moves this governor is a threat to her political approval rating.
Tudor Dixon is a former Republican gubernatorial nominee, an executive in Michigan’s steel industry, a breast cancer survivor, and a working mom of four girls. She is currently the host of The Tudor Dixon Podcast.
