The man who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star is fighting to get his beloved pet back after it was confiscated.

A New York man who turned a rescue squirrel into a social media star named Peanut is pleading with state authorities to return his beloved pet after it was confiscated during a raid that also found a raccoon named Fred. .

Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut – also spelled P’Nut or PNUT – led at least six state Department of Environmental Conservation agents to Mark Longo’s home near the Pennsylvania border in rural Pine City on Wednesday, Longo said .

“DEC came to my house and raided my house without a warrant to find a squirrel!” Longo, 34, said. “They treated me like I was a drug dealer and they were looking for drugs and weapons.”

The officers went with Peanut, who 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.

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

Longo, who runs an animal shelter inspired by her squirrel friend called P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, took to Instagram to mourn the loss of Peanut.

“Well internet, YOU WON,” Longo posted. “You took one of the most amazing animals from me because of your selfishness. To the group of people who called DEC, there is a special place in hell for you.”

Longo fears that Peanut has been sacrificed. “I don’t know if Peanut is alive,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “I don’t know where it is.”

The DEC spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether Peanut had been euthanized.

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

Longo determined that Peanut lacked the survival skills to live in the wild and would remain an indoor squirrel.

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

A scroll through Peanut’s Instagram account suggests this is no ordinary squirrel. Peanut jumps on Longo’s shoulder, wears a miniature cowboy hat, eats a waffle with crocheted bunny ears.

Over the years, Peanut’s story has appeared on television 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 sanctuary.

The 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 members of the family. family.

Longo is aware that possessing a wild animal without a license is against New York State law. He said he was in the process of filing paperwork to get 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 keep Peanut in the house and not have to worry about him being taken away.”

As for Fred, Longo said he only had the raccoon for a few months and hoped to rehabilitate the injured creature and return it to the forest.

Longo is not the first animal owner to protest the confiscation of a pet by New York authorities. A Buffalo-area man whose alligator was seized by the DEC in March is suing the agency to get the 750-pound (340-kilogram) reptile back.