A New York man who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star called Peanut is pleading with state authorities to return his beloved pet after they seized it during a raid that also yielded a raccoon named Fred.
Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut — also spelled P'Nut or PNUT — brought at least six officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to Mark Longo's home near the Pennsylvania border in rural Pine City on Wednesday, Mr Longo said.
“The DEC came to my house and raided my house without a search warrant to find a squirrel!” said Longo, who is 34. “I was treated as if I was a drug dealer and they were going for drugs and guns.”
The officers left with Peanut, who amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms during his seven years with Mr Longo. They also took Fred, a more recent addition to the family.
A spokesperson for the DEC said in a statement that the agency started an investigation 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.”
Mr Longo, who runs an animal refuge inspired by his squirrel buddy called P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, took to Instagram to mourn Peanut's loss.
“Well internet, you WON,” Longo posted. “You took one of the most amazing animals away from me because of your selfishness. To the group of people who called DEC, there’s a special place in hell for you.”
Mr Longo fears that Peanut has been euthanized. “I don't know if Peanut is alive,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “I don't know where he is.”
The DEC spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether Peanut had been euthanized.
Mr Longo said he saw Peanut's mother get hit by a car in New York City seven years ago, leaving the tiny squirrel an orphan.
He brought Peanut home and cared for him for eight months before trying to release the squirrel into the great outdoors. “A day and a half later I found him sitting on my porch missing half of his tail with his bone sticking out,” Mr Longo said.
He determined that Peanut lacked the survival skills to live in the wild and would remain an indoor squirrel.
Soon after he posted videos of Peanut playing with his cat, internet fame followed.
A scroll through Peanut's Instagram account suggests that this is no ordinary squirrel. Peanut leaps on to Mr Longo's shoulder, he wears a miniature cowboy hat, he eats a waffle while wearing crocheted bunny ears.
Over the years Peanut's story has been featured on TV and newspapers including USA Today.
Longo, who works as a mechanical engineer, was living in Norwalk, Connecticut, until he decided to move to upstate New York last year to start an animal sanctuary.
P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary opened in April 2023 and now houses about 300 animals including horses, goats and alpacas, said Longo, who runs the sanctuary with his wife, Daniela, and other family members.
Mr Longo is aware that it's against New York state law to own a wild animal without a license. He said he was in the process of filing paperwork to get Peanut certified as an educational animal.
“If we're not following the rules, guide us in the right direction to follow the rules, you know?” he said. “Let us know what we need to do to have Peanut in the house and not have to worry about him getting taken.”
As for Fred, Mr Longo said he only had the raccoon for a few months and was hoping to rehabilitate the injured creature and release him back to the woods.
Mr Longo is not the first animal owner to protest the confiscation of a pet by New York authorities. A Buffalo-area man whose alligator was seized by the DEC in March is suing the agency to get the 750-pound (340-kilogram) reptile back.
