Peanut the Squirrel was an adorable little squirrel, who was adopted by Mark Longo, after Peanut's mother got hit by a car in New York City seven years ago, leaving the tiny squirrel an orphan.
So what actually happened and why is Peanut dead?
Here's how it all went down:
After finding Peanut, Logan initially tried to find him a shelter but was unsuccessful.
He then took care of Peanut for eight months before trying to release him back into the wild. But it didn't work. “A day and a half later I found him sitting on my porch missing half of his tail with his bone sticking out,” Longo said.
According to the New York Times, since 2023, Longo and his wife have run an animal refuge called P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, inspired by their furry friend. The Longos contribute half of the sanctuary's expenses, most of which were raised through Peanut's social media presence. According to them, the sanctuary had rescued over 300 animals by November 2024.
Last Wednesday, six officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation raided Longo’s home near the Pennsylvania border in rural Pine City.
Notably, the officers did not have a search warrant, but they carried out the search anyway.
Longo explained that "I was treated as if I was a drug dealer and they were going for drugs and guns.”
The officers found Peanut and then took him away, along with a raccoon named Fred, who was a more recent addition to the family.
The DEC claimed said that they 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.”
The DEC euthanized Peanut "to test for rabies." But Longo claims that he was in the process of filing paperwork to have the squirrel certified as an educational animal when Peanut was seized.
Peanut was a beloved social media phenomenon, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok.
Longo took to Instagram to mourn Peanut’s loss.“Well internet, you WON. 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.”
RIP Peanut. We are all mourning your tragic and unnecessary murder.
