Internet-Famous Pet Squirrel Is Seized

The caretaker of a rescued squirrel who’s drawn half a million fans on Instagram says he’s fighting to save his beloved pet for a second time after the rodent was seized by New York authorities bent on euthanasia. Mark Longo says he rescued the squirrel named Peanut (also spelled P’Nut or PNUT) as a kit seven years ago after his mother was struck and killed by a car. He’s been “my best friend” and “the center of my world,” Longo writes on Instagram, adding, “To the group of people who called DEC, there’s a special place in hell for you.” He tells CNN that officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation turned up at his Elmira home on Wednesday and took Peanut away.

They didn’t have a warrant and treated Longo “as if I was a drug dealer,” the 34-year-old tells CNN. The DEC confirmed officers seized Peanut along with a pet raccoon named Fred, whom Longo took in a few months ago, per CNN and the New York Post. The agency said it had received “multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets.” It didn’t say what would happen to the animals, but Longo claims authorities intend to euthanize both. As of Thursday, he wasn’t even sure if Peanut was still alive. More than 25,000 people have signed a petition demanding the squirrel be returned home.

Longo says he knows it’s against state law to own a wild animal without a license but he had been in the process of getting Peanut certified as an educational animal. “If we’re not following the rules, guide us in the right direction to follow the rules,” he tells CNN. He says he tried releasing Peanut back into the wild after several months of care only to have the squirrel return with an injury, at which point he decided the rodent lacked the skills to survive on his own. He moved from Connecticut to New York last year to open an animal rescue, P’Nuts Freedom Farm, that now cares for 350 animals. As “we’ve relied heavily on UNPUT and his internet family to father donations,” the rescue’s future is now in limbo, he says, per the post. (More New York stories.)