Peanut the Squirrel was an internet sensation, captivating hundreds of thousands of internet followers with videos of his charming antics with his owner, Mark Longo. That changed last Wednesday, when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) raided Longo's home, seizing Peanut and another pet, a raccoon named Fred. The two animals were euthanized soon after. Longo claims that DEC informed the media about the animals' deaths before they told P'nuts Freedom Farm—Longo's animal sanctuary nonprofit, named after Peanut.
"Despite our passionate outcry for compassion, the agency chose to ignore our pleas, leaving us in deep shock and grief," Longo wrote on Instagram. "To add to our anguish, they informed the media of their decision before even notifying P'nuts Freedom Farm, his loving home. This demonstrates a troubling lack of respect and empathy. Their lives were precious, and we refuse to accept this loss in silence."
A spokesperson for the DEC told the Associated Press that they seized the animals after receiving "multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets."
"Two days ago, ten to fifteen DEC officers raided my home for a raccoon and a squirrel," Longo told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo on Friday. "We used resources from this state to kill a squirrel and raccoon and raid my house as if I was a drug dealer. We have resources to kill a squirrel and a raccoon but we can't fix the major bridges down the street?"
Longo added: "Since they left my house, not a single DEC employee or state official even called me to tell me what happened. They came into my house, they even asked my wife for immigration status….They spent five hours taking apart my house for a squirrel and a raccoon."
According to ABC, DEC says the animals were euthanized in order to test them for rabies after Peanut bit someone involved in the investigation. Longo has pushed back against these claims. "Everyone around here wore gloves," Longo told Cuomo. "These are professionals who deal with animals on a daily basis and you're gonna tell me you got bit by a squirrel? None of this transpired."
Almost immediately after the raid, there was an intense online backlash against the DEC's actions.
"i'd normally be meme-ing about topical things like this but this legit pisses me off," reads one X post with more than 28 million impressions. "A taxpayer funded agency raiding a man's house to murder his rescue pets is just plain evil."
"The squirrel isn't just a squirrel," reads another X post, this one with 1.9 million impressions as of Monday afternoon. "Peanut is for everyone who has ever feared that someone more powerful than you could walk into your home and take something that you absolutely cherish away from you, for absolutely no good reason, with no recourse."
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