The decision to euthanize P’Nut the Squirrel – a popular creature with 500,000 followers on Instagram – appeared to trigger a series of bomb threats at Department of Environmental Conservation offices across New York.

Officials say at least 10 state offices from Albany to Tarrytown received emailed bomb threats on Monday, including the Region 3 office in New Paltz.

Authorities have not revealed a motive for the threats. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office issued a statement Monday, condemning the threats and supporting the state workforce.

“Over the last 48 hours, at least ten bomb threats have been called in to the Department of Environmental Conservation. Governor Hochul strongly condemns these outrageous threats of violence and is grateful to the New York State Police for their work to investigate these threats and support the state workforce,” a representative said.

P’Nut and a rescued raccoon named Fred were seized last week at their owner Mark Longo’s rural Pine City home, near the Pennsylvania border, and euthanized on Wednesday, according to Longo. He described the decision on Instagram as “devastating” and said P’Nut was euthanized because “he was living his best life.”

“For the last seven years, P’Nut has been my best friend. He’s been the center of my world and many of yours for so long,” said Longo in a statement on Instagram. “I don’t know how to process this emotionally.”

According to published reports, the DEC said it received multiple complaints from the public about the unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets. Longo says he moved to New York last year in hopes of staring a nonprofit animal rescue. A license is required in the state to care for wildlife.

News 12 spoke to Westchester wildlife rehabilitator Patrick Moore, who runs the nonprofit and state-licensed group Animal Nation, about the controversy. He says more people are rescuing wildlife because there's a shortage of licensed rehabilitators.

"I think we need to look at this as a state. There's not enough help for these animals and we are going to continue to see this problem happen," says Moore. "This was a perfect storm and poor P'Nut paid the price for it."

News 12 reached out to the DEC for information about P'Nut's case. State police say the bomb threats were determined to be unfounded and that the investigation is ongoing.