Exclusive | Peanut the Squirrels grieving owner says he was treated like a terrorist in 5-hour raid by NY state

This is nuts.An upstate man whose beloved squirrel was cruelly killed by the state said he was treated like a “terrorist” when 10 government agents descended on his home during a five-hour raid.Mark Longo, whose pet Peanut captured the hearts of 3 million social media users, was stunned when a convoy of vehicles carrying officials from the state departments of Environmental Conservation and Health arrived at his Pine City home Wednesday.They served him with a surprise warrant allowing them to snatch away Peanut the squirrel and Fred, a raccoon he’d taken in.“They treated me like I was a terrorist.

They treated this raid as if I was a drug dealer.They ransacked my house for five hours,” Longo told The Post Saturday.“They asked my wife, who is of German descent, what her immigration status was.

They asked if I had cameras in my house.They wouldn’t allow me to go to the bathroom without a police escort, who then checked the back of the toilet to see if I was hiding anything there.”But worse than all of that, they delivered his gray fur baby to its death.

The state claimed it had to euthanize both animals Friday so that they could be tested for rabies — because the squirrel sunk its teeth into the hand of an official during the disturbing raid.Longo, 34, cared for “P’Nut” for more than seven years, rescuing him when his mother was hit by a car.

“We rehabbed him for eight months, we released him for a day and a half, but he ended up getting attacked.He never developed the instincts to survive outside,” Longo told The Post.

Peanut slept in his own room in their house in Pine City, just south of Elmira, NY.Fred arrived four months ago, after being dropped off at their front door, and split time between an outdoor enclosure and a room in their residence.Peanut and Fred were targeted, and not other animals living on the 350-acre property, because they lived indoors.Peanut was a star on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.Even Elon Musk paid tr...