A beloved pet squirrel with thousands of adoring fans on social media has been taken away by state officials and may be euthanized, according to its owner.
Peanut or P'Nut the squirrel has over 500,000 followers on Instagram and is a beloved mascot of P'Nut's Freedom Farm, a 501c3 animal rescue based in New York state.
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In a post shared on Instagram on October 30, his family shared "there's a special place in hell" for the people who called the New York Department of Conservation on little Peanut, now seven years old.
"The NY State DEC showed up to my house and took Peanut," reads the post. "He was TAKEN to the EUTHANIZED. Im in shock, disbelief, and disgusted to the people who did this to, PNUT. For the last 7 years, Peanut has been my best friend. He’s been the center of my world and many of yours for so long, I don’t know how to process this, emotionally."
Peanut was discovered by his family, Mark Longo, when he was five weeks old after his mother was hit by an oncoming vehicle. He was then lovingly nursed back to health and would not return to the wild when released.
In the years since, Peanut and Mark have charmed the internet with videos of domestic life, silly antics, and enjoying various meals together. They then expanded to continue work on an animal rescue in Peanut's name.
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"Last year we moved to NY in hopes of starting a NONPROFIT animal rescue in PNUT’s Name," read the Instagram post. "@pnuts_freedom_farm will forever live in PNUT’s memory. With over 350 rescues, we’ve relied heavily on PNUT and his internet family to gather donations to help more animals. I don’t even know how will continue to fundraise for this nonprofit."
Donations are currently being accepted on a GoFundMe for P'Nut's Freedom Farm in light of the recent news of the beloved squirrel's potential euthanasia at the hands of state officials.
"Following multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets, DEC conducted an investigation," read a statement shared by the New York DEC to Fox News Digital. "DEC’s investigation is ongoing and additional information will be provided as it becomes available."
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Peanut's adoptive father Mark Longo wrote, "this has been a complete shock to not just my family but all of peanuts community. Me and my wife were treated like criminals while multiple officers raided my house."
"I wasn’t able to use the bathroom without a police resort who then INSPECTED my bathroom before I used it. Mind you this was a SEARCH WARRANT signed by a judge to look for a squirrel and a raccoon. I wasn’t even allowed to feed our rescue horses most of them being neglected cases and already have severe weight loss," Longo continued.
"Something is not adding up with this and I’d like answers as to why it took 8+ DEC officers from ALBANY to come and tore my home apart. My home looks like they were searching for drugs or something, not just 2 harmless animals," Longo concluded.
A petition on Change.org in support of Peanut's safe return home currently has just under 20,000 signatures. It is against the law in New York to own a wild animal without a license.
It is unclear whether Peanut has been euthanized yet; a video from Oct. 31 claims that his family did not know this information at that time.
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