On October 30th, beloved internet squirrel ‘Peanut’, also known as ‘P’Nut’ was euthanized after being seized from his caretaker’s home by the DEC. They also took another animal, named Fred the Raccoon, and euthanized him as well. Peanut was euthanized after biting a DEC official, and needed to be tested for rabies, which led to the euthanization. Peanut had lived with his caretaker, Mark Longo, for seven years, ever since Mark had found him after Peanut’s mother was hit and killed by a car. Before Peanut’s death, his instagram account had amassed a following of 534,000 people.

In a statement to AP News, the DEC said, “On Oct. 30, DEC seized a raccoon and squirrel sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies. In addition, a person involved with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To test for rabies, both animals were euthanized” (AP News, Nov 1st).

Longo had been reported in January for owning and operating an illegal wildlife sanctuary. Longo has said that the raid the DEC held lasted around five hours, and after it ended his house was a mess. Him and his wife have a farm holding over 300 different animals that they opened in 2023, and named it after Peanut. According to the same AP News article, Longo shared a statement on Instagram saying, “It is with profound sorrow that we share the heartbreaking news: on October 30th, the DEC made the devastating decision to euthanize our beloved Peanut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon. Despite our passionate outcry for compassion, the agency chose to ignore our pleas, leaving us in deep shock and grief” (AP News, Nov 1).

DEC employees and officers are currently receiving threats because of this incident. They’re still investigating Longo and his sanctuary, and will be reporting updates as they come in.