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New York resident Mark Longo, 34, had his rural dwelling raided by officers from the state Division of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday. Their goal? Peanut, a social media star who additionally occurs to be a squirrel. Officers additionally confiscated a raccoon named Fred from Longo’s dwelling.
“The DEC got here to my home and raided my home with out a search warrant to discover a squirrel!” Longo informed AP News. “I used to be handled as if I used to be a drug seller and so they have been going for medication and weapons.”
A spokesperson for the DEC stated in a press release that the raid got here after the company obtained “a number of studies from the general public concerning the probably unsafe housing of wildlife that might carry rabies and the unlawful retaining of wildlife as pets.”
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Seven years in the past, Longo says he noticed a squirrel get hit by a automotive in New York Metropolis and observed Peanut, whom he presumed was now an orphan. Longo says he took Peanut dwelling, nursed him for eight months, after which launched him to the wild.
“A day and a half later I discovered him sitting on my porch lacking half of his tail together with his bone protruding,” Longo informed AP Information.
He took the squirrel again in and began an Instagram account that has amassed 534K followers.
Following the raid, Longo addressed Peanut’s followers on Instagram, explaining that he was uncertain if Peanut was nonetheless alive after being taken away and pledged to begin a non-profit within the squirrel’s identify. He’s additionally encouraging followers to signal an online petition calling for the squirrel to be returned dwelling. Finally verify, it had practically 24,000 signatures.
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