A New York man is pleading for the return of his beloved Instagram-famous squirrel, Peanut.
Mark Longo said the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) raided his property and seized Peanut, along with a raccoon named Fred. “The DEC came to my house and raided my house without a search warrant to find a squirrel!” said the 34-year-old. “I was treated as if I was a drug dealer and they were going for drugs and guns.”
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Longo rescued Peanut seven years ago, after witnessing his mother get hit by a car. After raising him as his own for eight months, Longo tried to release Peanut back into the wild. The problem with animals raised in captivity is that they tend to have absolutely zero survival skills, and it wasn’t long before Peanut got hurt.
“A day-and-a-half [after releasing him], I found him sitting on my porch missing half of his tail with his bone sticking out,” Longo said.
With that, Longo adopted Peanut permanently and began transforming him into a social media star, racking up millions of views across Instagram and TikTok. Longo had been living with Peanut for nearly a decade before the DEC swooped in and seized him.
In a statement, a DEC spokesperson said they had launched an investigation following “multiple reports from the public regarding the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies, as well as the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets”.
Mr Longo said he realises it’s illegal to own a wild animal without a license in New York, but had been in the process of filing the necessary paperwork. In a recent post on Instagram, he also said he has hired a legal team to get his squirrel back, but added the DEC is yet to confirm or deny whether Peanut has been euthanized.
For now, he has launched a petition calling for Peanut’s return, which has already collected 20,000 signatures. Longo has also launched a GoFundMe to help cover legal expenses.
