Peanut the Squirrel Was About Government Overreach

Also, RIP to his buddy, Fred the Racoon.

Found on Peanut’s Instagram

Seven years ago, Mark Longo saw a mother squirrel get hit and killed by a car. When he tried to scare the now-orphaned baby squirrel out of the street, the little thing ran up his leg instead. At that moment, a friendship was born.

The way the Connecticut native tells it, he tried to find a wildlife rehabber or animal sanctuary to take the baby squirrel, but no one would. He initially tried offering the baby squirrel a selection of nuts before learning that baby squirrels need formula. The little thing tried to eat a peanut, and that’s why Mark named him Peanut.

After eight months, Mark tried to turn Peanut loose in the wild. A day and a half later, the little squirrel was back on his doorstep, missing part of his tail. At that point, it was clear that Peanut had none of the skills needed to survive in the wild.

Eventually, the Longos decided to open an animal sanctuary. According to an interview with the New York Post, Mark and Daniela used their OnlyFans money to buy a large 350-acre spread in upstate New York and named it P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. They moved in last April. That’s when the trouble started.

You see, it's illegal in NY to have a pet squirrel. Also, wildlife rehabbers and animal sanctuaries have to be licensed by the state. Even then, rehabbers are not allowed to keep squirrels for more than a few months without going through an expensive process to get a special license. Mark Longo has stated in multiple interviews that he and his wife had already started the process of getting licensed in New York at the time of the raid. Interestingly, he told the NYPost that the DEC had received complaints about Peanut about six months ago and didn’t have an issue with anything at that point. Then, about four months ago, a baby raccoon appeared on their doorstep. When DEC started getting complaints about the raccoon, they moved to seize both animals.

The home got raided. According to Mark and Daniele, the DEC agents who showed up to seize the squirrel and his raccoon friend kept them out on the front lawn, questioned Daniele’s immigration status, and even took the toilet apart when Mark asked to use the bathroom. They also refused to let him feed or water the horses that were on the property and absolutely destroyed the home, looking for the squirrel.

Then, the DEC released a statement to the press early the next day, claiming that the squirrel bit someone on the hand during the raid. As a result, both animals were euthanized in order “to check for rabies.” The agency did not contact Mark or Daniele. The Longos only found out their beloved pet squirrel was dead when a local reporter asked for a comment on the statement the DEC had given the media.

As of this writing, it is unknown who made the complaint calls to the DEC. A woman’s name has been circulating the internet as the party responsible. The claim is that she outed herself by bragging about it on Facebook, but no one seems to have a screenshot of the post.

Almost the entire internet seemed to rally behind the Longos in grief for the little squirrel, that, honestly, most of us didn’t even know he existed until the State of New York killed him. The reality is, it isn’t really about Peanut and Fred. This is about government overreach and the absolute insanity that is our government’s idea about the “rule of law” these days. Amy Curtis has a great thread on X explaining the outrage, and it’s worth going over there to read it.

This happened in New York. The same state that jailed Dexter Taylor for 10 years for his hobby, but turns a blind eye to shoplifters and thieves. The state that allowed Jordan Neely, a man who’d been arrested over 40 times in the past, to roam free and terrorize women and children on the subway, but has charged and is trying Daniel Penny for murder for trying to protect those women and children from Neely.

As Amy Curtis put it:

THAT is what Peanut and Fred represent. A country fed up with a government that refuses to enforce its most fundamental laws but one that will give tyrants carte blanche to invade your home over the kinds of pets you have.

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Lorraine Yuriar is a wife, mother, and lifelong conservative, currently stuck in a very blue state.