Peanut the Squirrel Owners Are Suing New York

The owners of Peanut the Squirrel are preparing a lawsuit against the state of New York after government agents seized the small rodent and the family’s raccoon pet, Fred. The government claims that Peanut (whose name is also stylized as P’Nut) bit one of the agents, an incident that resulted in the deaths of both the pet squirrel and raccoon, who were euthanized to test them for rabies.

Mark Longo and Daniela Bittner became the unwitting owners of Peanut in 2017, after his mother was killed by a car. When attempts to find a shelter for the orphaned baby rodent failed, the eastern gray squirrel became a family pet. He was bottle fed for eight months and then released back into the wild, but Peanut returned shortly afterward with an injured tail and ultimately grew into an Instagram star with over 500,000 followers.

Related

10 Best Pet Simulators, Ranked

These are some of the best pet simulator games for fans of the genre.

However, it is illegal to keep a pet squirrel in New York, and the state began an investigation when licensed wildlife rehabilitators filed multiple complaints. After living with the Longo/Bittner family for six years, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) seized Peanut on October 30, 2024, and killed him two days later via decapitation. The rodent’s owners have filed a “notice of claim” against the state, a necessary legal step in New York before filing a lawsuit.

Peanut the Squirrel’s Owners Have Several Complaints in Their Lawsuit

Longo and Bittner laid out several points in their notice of claim. Firstly, they believe that the state had planned to kill Peanut as many as seven days before the raid and used the threat of rabies, of which the squirrel exhibited no signs, as an excuse to do so. Furthermore, say Peanut’s owners, trained state officials should have known how to handle an animal without being bitten. And lastly, Peanut and his companion raccoon, Fred, were not euthanized as the state claims, but executed. For clarification, euthanasia requires a painless method of killing, which Longo and Bittner argue excludes beheading.

Peanut’s family had opened the P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary in April 2023 but had not obtained the required licenses to legally keep the eastern gray squirrel. They claim to have been in the process of having Peanut certified as an educational animal when he was taken. For its part, the NYSDEC stated that it had received numerous complaints from the public, as many as three on the day the squirrel was seized. It was aware that, in addition to Peanut, there were four raccoons being housed at the sanctuary.

While Longo and Bittner helped pay for half of the expenses of the P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, the squirrel’s large social media following also siphoned viewers to Longo’s OF account, which earned an estimated $800,000 per month. Critics posit that the loss of income is, at least in part, the real reason Peanut’s owners are so upset by the squirrel’s death. However, having had the critter as part of their family for six years, the two humans likely became attached to their unique pet and are legitimately distraught by his loss.

Sources: New York Post, Vanity Fair, WIVB.com