Peanut, the Instagram-famous squirrel, is seized by New York officials | Animals

A New York man who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star named Peanut is pleading with state authorities to return his beloved pet after they seized it in a raid that also netted a raccoon named Fred.

Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut — also spelled P’Nut or PNUT — brought at least six state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) agents to Mark Longo’s home on Wednesday, Longo said.

“The DEC came to my house and raided my house without a search warrant to find a squirrel!” said Longo, of Pine City. “I was treated as if I was a drug dealer and they were looking for drugs and weapons.”

The officers left with Peanut, who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms during his seven years with Longo. They also took Fred, a more recent addition to the family.

As of Thursday evening, Longo had collected nearly 20,000 signatures urging Peanut’s return, and he says he has hired a legal team to get Peanut back.

A spokesperson for the DEC said in a statement that the agency began an investigation after receiving “multiple reports from the public regarding the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that can transmit rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pet.”

Longo, who runs an animal sanctuary inspired by his squirrel friend P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, mourned the loss of Peanut on Instagram and said he 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 spokesperson did not respond when asked whether Peanut had been euthanized.

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

Longo decided that Peanut did not have the survival skills to live in the wild and a squirrel would stay indoors.

Internet fame followed, after Longo posted videos of Peanut playing with his cat.

An Instagram account dedicated to Peanut shows the animal jumping on Longo’s shoulder, wearing a miniature cowboy hat and eating a waffle while wearing crocheted bunny ears.

Over the years, Peanut’s story has been featured on TV and in newspapers, including 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. 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 sanctuary with his wife Daniela and other family members.

Longo is aware that it is against New York state law to own a wild animal without a permit. He said he was in the process of filing paperwork to have Peanut certified as an educational 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 have Peanut in the house and not have to worry about him being taken.”

As for Fred, Longo said he had only had the raccoon for a few months and hoped to rehabilitate the injured creature and release him back into the woods.

Longo is not the first animal owner to protest the seizure of a pet by New York authorities. A Buffalo man whose alligator was seized by the DEC in March is suing the agency to get the 700-pound reptile back.