Peanut squirrel has been euthanized, now his owner wants the answer
Mark Longo’s pet squirrel, peanuts and Fred’s raccoon were seized and euthanized by New York officials in October. Now he’s looking for an answer.
Mark Longo fondly recalls waking up in a house in southern central New York at a home with a small footed pitter putter.
They did not belong to cats or dogs, but they belong to a squirrel named Peanut, who stole the hearts of the Longo family and many other people around the world. But officials say local laws mean that peanuts should not be kept as pets.
On October 30, 2024, state Environmental Protection officials stormed Longo’s home in Pine City and confiscated Arisco named Peanuts and Fred. Both animals were euthanized by social media followers who grew to love them.
Rabies radically imposes conflicts as raccoons can carry fatal diseases in New York and it is illegal to maintain them as pets. To test animals with rabies, the CDC says they need to be euthanized first.
The attacks attracted the attention of the public, and the death of Peanuts symbolizes local governments that are out of control by some. Longo agreed and filed a lawsuit claiming his rights in June 2025, with the rights of his wife, Daniela Bittner, being violated.
“By filing these cases, we can create a movement,” Longo told USA Today. “This was a heinous act by an overwhelming government.”
Meanwhile, a series of documents on the investigation paint a picture of state officials facing concerns and complaints about Longo’s animals, particularly after Fred joined the pack, when Raccoon reached its peak in a dramatic attack.
A few months after Peanuts and Fred’s fate caused a public backlash, Amanda Lefton, a representative committee, issued a statement acknowledging that the agency could better handle the situation and saying it was reviewing all of its wildlife conservation and enforcement protocols.
DEC spokesman Lori Severino said the agency had not commented on the pending lawsuit. Representatives from Kemun County and Elmira, who were also appointed in the June lawsuit, did not immediately return requests for comment.
What happened to Peanuts and Fred?
Peanuts and Fred were taken from Longo’s home on Oct. 30, when the county health department and the New York Environmental Protection Department were receiving reports that “they could carry illegal wildlife maintenance as wildlife homes and pets that do not have the potential to rabies.”
According to Longo, nine guards went to their homes and “looted” them for about five hours. He added that he and his wife were detained during the search, his wife’s immigrant status was raised questionable and the home had been checked with cameras. (Longo’s wife Daniela is a German immigrant.
Officials said Peanuts bit one of the investigators involved in the confiscation, and both animals that took were later euthanized for rabies testing, prompting anger from massive social media after Longo and Peanuts. Rabies testing can only be performed after the animal dies.
According to the CDC, raccoons are vectors with known rabies vectors, but squirrels rarely acquire rabies. The Columbia District Health Department said no human has contracted rabies from squirrels in the United States.
Longo and Peanut fans, and even the then presidential candidate, JD Vance denounced the attack and decision to euthanize animals.
Peanuts lived with Longo for several years after he said he rescued the squirrel like a baby when he witnessed his mother being attacked and dying by a car. He attempts to bring the peanuts back into the wild, but the squirrel gets injured outdoors, so Longo brings him back. Wildlife rescuers say some squirrels fail in rehabilitation as they are carved into humans and do not develop wild squirrel behavior.
Longo did not have the necessary license to work as a rehabilitator for the Squirrel in New York, investigators said in a document released by WatchDog Group Judicial Watch as part of a public record lawsuit. He later told USA Today that he began the process of obtaining a license but was stymed by complex regulations that allowed him to legally maintain peanuts.
The lawsuit alleges that “indecent” government overreach
The Longo case, filed in Kemun County, New York, nominates the county, the city of Elmira and several dec officers as defendants. The 44-page submission provided by USA Today by Longo did not state the amount, but said Longo and Bittner wanted a jury trial for damages and violations to their civil rights.
“We want to get justice for the sake of Peanuts and Fred, and all the animals, not just for our clients and their rights. We hope that Peanuts and Fred’s deaths were not in vain.”
The lawsuit says DEC officials allowed searches of the house and searching for animals, but acted outside the scope of the warrant allowing the animal to be seized rather than euthanasia, and in doing so violated the couple’s rights to the rights of the rights of the process. He also said that the killing of Peanuts and Fred economically hurt Longo, Bitner and their animal sanctuary. They received donations and made money thanks to the popularity of animal social media.
“Peanuts and Fred were executed by the defendants, not euthanasia,” the lawsuit says.
The submission alleges that the agency caused Longo and Bitner intentionally emotional distress, exacerbating it by refusing to return Peanut and Fred’s bodies to them. However, Longo said his purpose in the lawsuit was accountability, not revenge.
“I’ve been fighting a lot. It’s fighting and sadness. It’s hard to sadden when you know you’re being challenged on so many levels. But the outcome has to be positive and I don’t want to sit here and be a victim.”
The document reveals the steps leading up to the attack
Documents released early in 2025 revealed that peanuts have been on the December radar since at least early 2024.
However, for the days leading up to the October 30 attack, the raccoon was currently held and complaints were brought to the department that they were expressing concern about their living conditions. Raccoon Fred was placed in the closet with his luggage on, by his home authorities, the report shows. Peanuts were found in the bathroom.
The complaints came from people who said they saw a Longo video on Tiktok.
Officers said in the report that officers saw Longo’s videos on Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram. One officer also drove Longo’s property and photographed it from the street for several days leading up to the seizure.
“The Wildlife staff in December continued to receive several new civil complaints about prisoner raccoons in October 2024, which allowed the case to be handled by application for a search warrant to obtain an arrested breeding warrant,” the document states.
The document depicts an assault on the unclear picture of the authorities’ intentions. One analysis found evidence that euthanasia has been a plan, not only for responses to reported bites from squirrels, the Elmiraster gazette, which is part of the USA Today network. However, the documents also show that authorities have conducted extensive research to find rehabilitators of squirrels licensed wildlife.
“I cry almost every day.”
Longo said he doesn’t need to think twice about lying to authorities in an attempt to protect Peanuts and Fred. When authorities came to his home on October 30th, records show that Longo told them there were no wildlife in the house, and that the peanuts were taken to Connecticut.
He then appealed to the officers to not take them there.
“As an animal lover, you love your animals and you do whatever it takes to protect them,” Longo said.
Since that day, Longo said it would be difficult to live in his home. He also changed the opinion of law enforcement agencies he trusted.
“They destroyed my family,” he said. “I cry almost every day to learn that part of my life and that chapter is closed.”
In April, Longo traveled to the Albany state capital to defend the peanuts law. This means measures supported by lawmakers and animal welfare advocates establish a waiting period before animals seized from the sanctuary are euthanized and other due-process standards are required, unless the animals are proven protected.
“I want to make sure these two animals don’t die in vain and that the world needs to change things and improve,” he said.
Longo also focuses on hundreds of animals that he has stayed on over 300 acres of property, and is home to the P’Nuts Freedom Firm Animal Sanctuary. Rescues there include horses, goats, pigs, donkeys, alpacas, sheep, and more.
“I have to continue to play our part in getting out and helping more and more animals out of Peanuts and Fred’s legacy,” Longo said.
Contributors: Jeff Murray, Elmira Star Gazette. Greta Cross USA Today
