Peanut (c. 2017 – c. October 30, 2024), also known as P'Nut, was a male eastern gray squirrel. Found and rescued as a kit by Mark Longo in 2017, he was the subject of a popular Instagram account. On October 30, 2024, Peanut was seized from Longo's home by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and euthanized soon after for rabies testing, which yielded negative results. Peanut's death created an outcry on social media, condemnation from various lawmakers, and the introduction of a bill aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future.
Life and social media Peanut was a tamed eastern gray squirrel found and rescued in 2017 by Mark Longo. Longo discovered the squirrel's mother killed by a car in New York City. A mechanical engineer at the time, Longo sought a shelter for Peanut but was unsuccessful, and he bottle-fed the squirrel for the next eight months before deciding that Peanut should be returned to the wild. Longo released the animal into his backyard, but about a day later, he found Peanut on his porch with half of its tail missing. Longo said he "opened the door, [Peanut] ran inside, and that was the last of Peanut's wildlife career." It is illegal to keep squirrels as pets in the state of New York, and no license was obtained to legally keep Peanut. Longo has stated that he was in the process of filing paperwork to have Peanut certified as an educational animal at the time of the seizure, however, he has not explained why he did not pursue a license in the preceding seven years. While in his care, Longo created an Instagram account sharing videos of Peanut, and by October 2024 the account had amassed 534,000 followers. Peanut's social media following also helped steer viewers to Longo's OnlyFans account, where he called himself "Peanut's dad" and produced pornography, drawing in $800,000 over one month. In April 2023, Longo and his wife moved from his hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut, to upstate New York to found the P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. They contributed to half of the sanctuary's expenses, most of which was raised through Peanut's social media presence. According to them, the sanctuary had rescued over 300 animals by November 2024, however, Longo was not licensed as a wildlife rehabilitator.
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