Mark and Daniela Longo, the couple who owned the viral pets 'Peanut the Squirrel' and a raccoon named Fred, are devasted after the animals were seized by New York's state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and euthanized due to rabies testing. As per reports, the squirrel bit one of the DEC officers raiding the couple's house Wednesday following complaints of potentially unsafe housing for the animals.
After the news of the two animals' euthanization made national headlines, drawing in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, as well as his high profile endorser billionaire Elon Musk, Mark and Daniela Longo have said that they are going to pursue legal action against the county. "Peanut did not die in vain!" Mark Longo said in an interview with TMZ, alleging the state of abusing its power and killing the two animals. They, however, did not specify what course of action will be taken.
Mark and Daniela Longo are residents of Pine City in New York, near the state's border with Pennsylvania. Mark Longo is 34 years old and runs an animal refuge called P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, named after Peanut the Squirrel. A mechanical engineer by profession, Mark Longo was working in Connecticut before moving to New York to start the animal sanctuary in 2023. Since opening in April 2023, the sanctuary now houses over 300 animals, including horses, goats and alpacas.
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Daniela, Mark Longo's wife, and other family members of the couple help the New York man run the sanctuary. However, despite being famous on the internet, with hundreds of thousands of followers across all major social media platforms, the squirrel was not kept with a license. New York's state law requires wild animals to be kept with a license.
Mark Longo told the Associated Press in a phone interview that he was in the process of filing for paperwork to get Peanut the Squirrel certified as an educational animal. The squirrel was rescued by Longo seven years ago when the animal's mother died in a car accident, Longo added. After caring for the squirrel for eight months, they tried releasing it in the wild, but the animal came back. Peanut was living with Longo since then.