Peanut’s squirrel owner shares news after New York authorities seize animal

• On October 30, Mark Longo, owner of social media star Peanut the squirrel, revealed that the animal had been confiscated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
• Since the seizure, Peanut’s fundraiser has raised more than $7,000 to help cover the legal costs of the fight to return the animal to Longo.
• Longo shared an update on the situation with Peanut’s more than 500,000 Instagram followers on November 1.

The owner of beloved squirrel Peanut shared an update on the social media star after state authorities seized the animal in New York.

Peanut, who has 535,000 followers on Instagram and 423,000 on Facebook, was seized by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officers, according to a statement made by the squirrel’s owner, Mark Longo, on Peanut’s official Instagram account on Wednesday, October. 30.

In a follow-up message posted on Friday, November 1, Longo thanked Peanuts fans, whose name is also spelled P’Nut or PNUT, for their support and said there was a “small chance” of getting his pet back.

“I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone coming together for this,” Longo began in the video. “I have not received any updates regarding Peanuts. We are still in the same waiting stage.”

Longo then continued, “But while we wait, we still have to focus on our animal rescue nonprofit, so I can’t thank you all enough for the love and support. It’s been a terrible nightmare for me, but we still have 300 animals to take care of, so if you continue to sign the petition and donate if you can, it really means a lot to us.”

“Thank you for staying with us and my family. We love you all, please keep spreading the word and let’s bring Peanut back,” he concluded.

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“We can’t thank you all enough for your support,” Longo captioned the video. “There is a small chance we can bring him home so please continue to sign the petition (LINK IN BIO) ❤️ I will keep everyone posted. We LOVE you all.”

Longo’s update comes a day after he said in a video posted Oct. 31 that he doesn’t know “if Peanut is alive or not.”

“I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support you have given to me and my wife. This is an absolute tragedy and I pray we still have a chance,” he shared in another Instagram post. on the same day.

In his Oct. 30 post saying Peanut was taken from his home, Longo said he was “in shock, disbelief and disgusted at the people who did this to PNUT.”

“At 10 a.m. today, Wednesday, October 30, 2024… New York State Police came to my home and took Peanut away. He was TAKEN TO UTHANIZED,” he said in a statement, calling Peanut his “best friend” for the past seven years.

In a statement provided to PEOPLE, the DEC said it conducted the investigation following “numerous public reports of potentially unsafe housing of wild animals that may carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wild animals as pets.”

The statement added that “DEC’s investigation is ongoing and additional information will be provided as it becomes available.”

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In addition to Peanut, DEC seized an injured raccoon named Fred, according to the Associated Press. Longo had owned the animal for several months and hoped to release it back into the wild.

According to the publication, Longo adopted Peanut after he saw the rodent’s mother hit by a car, and it was their connection that inspired him to open an animal shelter at P’Nuts Freedom Farm in April 2023.

Following Peanut’s arrest, Longo helped create a Change.org petition and a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to help “cover legal fees for attorneys to help us repair the damages caused and ensure Peanut’s return to his loving home.”

At the time of publication, the fundraiser had raised more than $7,000 of its $15,000 goal.