"Peanut's Law," or a New York Pol's Publicity Stunt?
LI Assembly rep Jake Blumencranz is making a show of moving his bill through Albany but has ignored calls to strengthen it.
The Scoop New York is a newsletter dedicated to companion animals and the New Yorkers who care for them, from Buffalo to Brooklyn. NYC ACC KILLS, published by TSNY, enumerates and memorializes adoptable cats and dogs who were nonetheless exterminated by Animal Care Centers of New York City.

Headlines from Buffalo to Brooklyn
It’s May 24, 2025. This is The Weekly Poop, Limited Collectible Weekend Edition.
This week, state Assembly Member Jake Blumencranz, of Long Island, is making noise on social media about Peanut’s Law, a bill Blumencranz introduced ostensibly to spare more New Yorkers the pain of watching with no recourse as their pets are confiscated and put to death by the state for reasons the state can not articulate beyond “Them’s the rules.”
A little background: Peanut was an internet-famous squirrel, saved from the streets of New York City to become the face of P’Nut’s Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, in Chemung County. Until last fall, that is, when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation decided that, because he lived indoors, Peanut posed a clear and present danger to humanity, and had to be decapitated to ensure otherwise (it’s the only way to check for rabies, dontchaknow). A recent arrival, Fred the raccoon, was at the wrong place (state of New York) at the wrong time (state of New York after the establishment of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation), and was also exterminated.
I don’t have to tell you that neither Peanut nor Fred was rabid, despite the claim that Peanut bit one of the DEC goons (through PPE and all, one imagines). They died — they were killed, at the state’s discretion — for nothing. Recreationally, pretty much.
Aside: Jake Blumencranz is a Republican. Now, everyone over age 10 understands that, if the GOP held the governor’s office and a legislative supermajority, it would be Democrats howling about jackboots storming onto private property to execute a pet squirrel. The red team happens to be on offense this time, but we are all adults here, and as such can acknowledge that in this case roles could easily be reversed and everyone would do and be as they are now, only the opposite. As adults, we can also now move on.
Peanut’s Law (A.7388/S.7011) as written would essentially require the state to hold off for 72 hours before killing an animal seized from a non-profit wildlife sanctuary, “unless there is documented evidence that the animal presents an immediate threat to public safety.” The bill would establish a process allowing for an animal’s caretaker to appeal a state kill command. A transparency provision would require quarterly reports on state animal seizures and killings, and give DEC seven days to release “testing results” for animals who are “euthanized.”
A few tweaks could make the bill much better, for the animals and their people. Last November, the California-based No Kill Advocacy Center posted an open letter to Blumencranz, calling for the bill’s protections to be extended to individuals, rather than restricted to 501(c)(3) non-profit sanctuaries. Further, a revised bill, NKAC director Nathan Winograd wrote, could prohibit DEC from seizing animals in the first place, absent “clear and convincing evidence of neglect or abuse,” without a court order. It could prohibit the state from exterminating animals who are not suffering, and require the state to notify an animal’s caretaker before a killing.
These are small amendments that could go a long way. But Winograd never heard back from Blumencranz and, as far as Winograd knows, none of the NKAC’s suggestions were written into the bill. A query sent this week by The Scoop New York, asking Blumencranz specifically about the proposed changes, was not returned.
The state bill tracker says Peanut’s Law is currently in the environmental conservation committees of the Senate and Assembly. It has seen action in one house (the Assembly) as recently as Tuesday. TSNY queried Blumencranz on Thursday, two days after he posted a video of himself and P’Nut’s sanctuary operator Mark Longo, apparently on the sanctuary grounds.
“Give sanctuaries due process,” Blumencranz said. “Give Peanut, Fred and ALL animals justice. No more red tape over reason. No more silence!”
It is my personal opinion that Jake Blumencranz wants justice for Peanut and Fred. When citizens have been wronged and seek redress, politicians should step up to help them. So long as the effort is sincere, doing so loudly is fine. Admirable, even. In a society that would rather choke down a ton of cure than sip an ounce of prevention, that’s how things work — or, far more often, don’t. In that sense, Blumencranz is an American politician doing his sad job.
No explanation presents itself, though, when it comes to ignoring experts — or service journalists, even — who share your purported goals.
That bullshit may play well to a certain audience, but that attendant stink is reality. Vaccines don’t have “skeptics.” Square wheels don’t roll. Electeds who want to help New Yorkers and their pets will do so whether or not an aide is around to post the video on Instagram. They respond to the expert’s open letter. They answer the reporter’s email.
If they don’t, well, I’ve been wrong before.
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Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
You can love companion animals or you can love watching their adoptive families cower in mortal fear, but not both.
A whistleblower suit filed by a former ASPCA CFO accuses the litigious org of “executive excess and donor fund misallocation.” As if on cue.
Governor Kathy Hochul as usual made a big deal of gathering crumbs for distribution among allll of NYS’ animal shelters and rescues, including the Town of Henrietta dog pound, in Monroe County, which according to one local official provides no help for “stray” cats, and has no plans to start.
Related: When it comes to their governor, most New Yorkers at this post-budget fight juncture are eyeing the Someone Else ballot line.
Related: New York State Police, who basically serve at the pleasure of the governor, are working with the New York State Animal Protection Federation to make animal cruelty investigations more effective.
Two career politicians competing to be Buffalo’s next mayor have both promised to fix the city’s broken kill pound, a cause both have failed to advance despite their combined decades on the public payroll.
NYCHA’s first dog park — an apparently quite nice facility at Castle Hill Houses, in the Bronx — is a hit. Which is kind of a big deal.
The sad irony of Justin Brannan adopting “bulldog” as his campaign sobriquet is another sign that, as far as the City Council member and comptroller hopeful is concerned, shame is little more than a string of letters that happen to line up a certain way. (Equal time: For all the languages he speaks, Brannan’s primary opponent Mark Levine is himself not particularly fluent in owning up to his own bullshit.)
Mike Bober has resigned as chief executive of the so-called “Pet Advocacy Network,” a DC-based pet industry trade group that last year tried to kill New York’s new restrictions on selling puppy mill puppies. Can’t wait to see what high jinks he gets up to next.
Food recalls
The FDA announced no new pet food recalls this week,
Check here for info on earlier recalls.