Tipsheet

The Assassination of 'Peanut the Squirrel'

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 02, 2024 10:00 PM

Did state officials execute a squirrel? That appears to be the case for this New York couple whose story set social media ablaze. It’s a classic tale of government overreach. It’s overkill—literally. The squirrel was a social media sensation, having been rescued by Mark Longo of Pine City, New York, several years ago. For some reason, the Department of Environmental Conservation thought ‘Peanut’ and another of Longo’s critters, Fred, the raccoon, were illegally owned. The length at which the state secured search warrants for the Longo home is tragically absurd. 

Mr. Longo alleges that he was treated like a terrorist as Peanut and Fred were seized by the state and then euthanized. Let’s call it what it is: the squirrel and the raccoon were brutally murdered because these woodland creatures just had to be taken because they posed a severe risk or something. What a crock. The incident even attracted the attention of the Trump campaign on TikTok. There was a statement that Mediaite thought Trump issued about the death of Peanut, but that was fake news (via NY Post): 

An upstate man whose beloved squirrel was cruelly killed by the state said he was treated like a “terrorist” when 10 government agents descended on his home during a five-hour raid. 

Mark Longo, whose pet P’nut captured the hearts of 3 million social media users, was stunned when a convoy of vehicles carrying officials from the state departments of Environmental Conservation and Health arrived at his Pine City home Wednesday. 

[…] 

“They treated me like I was a terrorist. They treated this raid as if I was a drug dealer. They ransacked my house for five hours,” Longo told The Post Saturday. 

“They asked my wife, who is of German descent, what her immigration status was. They asked if I had cameras in my house. They wouldn’t allow me to go to the bathroom without a police escort, who then checked the back of the toilet to see if I was hiding anything there.” 

[…] 

The state claimed it had to euthanize both animals Friday so that they could be tested for rabies — because the squirrel sunk its teeth into the hand of an official during the disturbing raid. The test results are not yet known. 

Longo, 34, cared for “P’Nut” for more than seven years, rescuing him when his mother was hit by a car. 

“We rehabbed him for eight months, we released him for a day and a half, but he ended up getting attacked. He never developed the instincts to survive outside,” Longo told The Post. 

[…]

Fred arrived four months ago, after being dropped off at their front door, and split time between an outdoor enclosure and a room in their residence. 

P’nut and Fred were targeted, and not other animals living on the 350-acre property, because they lived indoors. 

[…] 

The DEC said in a statement obtained by WETM that the raid was in response to complaints about Fred, the raccoon, but Longo claimed they used him as an excuse to get P’nut.

“The only time I ever talked to the DEC prior to this was when they got complaints from anonymous people on the internet for P’nut about five or six months ago and that was before Fred,” he said. “They used Fred as their go-to to get into my house.” 

All of this over a squirrel. They killed Peanut and Fred the raccoon because it seemed like some neighborhood ‘Karens’ had too much time on their hands. 

RIP, Peanut.