AP
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A New Yorker who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star named Peanut is asking state authorities to return his beloved pet after they confiscated it in a raid that also found a raccoon named Fred.

Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut – also spelled P’Nut or PNUT – brought at least six state Department of Environmental Conservation officials to Mark Longo’s home near the Pennsylvania border in rural Pine City on Wednesday, Longo said.

“The DEC came to my house and searched my house without a warrant to find a squirrel!” said Longo, who is 34 years old. “I was treated like I was a drug dealer and they wanted drugs and guns.”

Officials went with Peanut, who had amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms during his seven years at Longo. They also took Fred, a newer family member.

A DEC spokesman said in a statement that the agency launched an investigation after receiving “multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wild animals that could transmit rabies and the illegal keeping of wild animals as pets.”

Longo, who runs an animal shelter inspired by his squirrel friend called P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, mourned Peanut’s loss on Instagram.

“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 is a special place in hell for you.”

Longo fears Peanut has been euthanized. “I don’t know if Peanut is still alive,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “I don’t know where he is.”

The DEC spokesman did not respond when asked whether Peanut had been euthanized.

Longo said he saw Peanut’s mother get hit by a car in New York City seven years ago, leaving the little squirrel orphaned. Longo brought Peanut home and cared for him for eight months before attempting to release the squirrel into the wild. “A day and a half later I found him sitting on my porch with half of his tail missing and his bone sticking out,” Longo said.

Longo concluded that Peanut did not have the survival skills to live in the wild and that he would remain a pet squirrel.

Shortly after Longo posted videos of Peanut playing with his cat, he gained internet fame.

A scroll through Peanut’s Instagram account suggests that this is no ordinary squirrel. Peanut jumps on Longo’s shoulder, he’s wearing a miniature cowboy hat, he’s eating a waffle while wearing crocheted bunny ears.

Over the years, Peanut’s story has been featured on television and in newspapers such as USA Today.

Longo, who works as a mechanical engineer, lived in Norwalk, Connecticut, until he decided to move to upstate New York last year to start an animal shelter.

The P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary opened in April 2023 and is now home to about 300 animals, including horses, goats and alpacas, said Longo, who runs the shelter with his wife Daniela and other family members.

Longo understands that it is against New York State law to keep a wild animal without a license. He said he is in the process of filing paperwork to get Peanut certified as a learning animal.

“If we don’t follow the rules, guide us in the right direction to follow the rules, you know?” Longo said. “Let us know what we need to do to keep Peanut in the house and not have to worry about him being kidnapped.”

As for Fred, Longo said he had only had the raccoon for a few months and was hoping to rehabilitate the injured creature and release it back into the forest.

Longo is not the first pet 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.