P’Nut, a pet squirrel with a popular Instagram page, was seized by government officials on Wednesday in Pine City, N.Y.
Mark Longo, 34, found P’Nut seven years ago in New York City. “His mom was hit by a car, and he was walking into a busy street in Downtown Manhattan,” Mr. Longo said in an interview. “He ended up crawling up my leg.”
After some time in Mr. Longo’s home in Pine City, P’Nut was set free in the backyard. But he wound up being attacked by other animals and losing half his tail. Mr. Longo decided that P’Nut was safer inside.
The squirrel has his own room, and when Mr. Longo and his wife, Daniela, were at home he would get full range of the house. “He’s 24/7 cage-free his entire life,” said Mr. Longo, describing him as “the most charismatic, sassy animal.”
It wasn’t just the Longos who enjoyed P’Nut’s company. “The internet fell in love,” Mr. Longo said. He posted photographs and videos on social media and the squirrel amassed half a million followers on Instagram.
But on Wednesday, officials from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation showed up at the Longos’ home in Pine City, near Elmira in the Southern Tier of New York.
“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, D.E.C. conducted an investigation,” the department said in a statement on Thursday. “D.E.C.’s investigation is ongoing and additional information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Mr. Longo saw it differently. “Officers ransacked my entire house,” he said. “They made me sit outside for five hours. They wouldn’t even let me feed my horses.”
The officers left with P’Nut and a raccoon, which was also in their possession.
“He was cuddly and lovable,” Mr. Longo said, “but he had the attitude of a celebrity.” P’Nut’s favorite foods are avocado, and he likes nibbling on hard-shelled black walnuts.
“We have had P’nut for seven years without a single complaint,” Mr. Longo said. “Now it’s suddenly an issue?” Noting P’Nut’s social media presence, he added, “It’s not like we were hiding him.”
P’Nut was also the face and name of P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, a nonprofit that the Longos started in April.
The Longos, who own a social media company, contribute half of the roughly $20,000-a-month expenses to run the sanctuary and donors supply the other half, Mr. Longo said.
That money was raised largely through P’Nut’s name and by attracting eyeballs with cute squirrel videos online.
“We have rescued over 300 animals in our sanctuary already,” Mr. Longo said. “Cats, dogs, horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and pigs.”
But Mr. Longo fears fund-raising will become more difficult without the star attraction. “I don’t know how I will make it without P’Nut.”
The incident is reminiscent of one in Massachusetts earlier this month, when Nibi the beaver, who lived at a wildlife rescue, was threatened with seizure. Ultimately, Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts stepped in, and Nibi was allowed to stay.
Mr. Longo is holding out hope. “There are opportunities to file to get him back. We are people who follow the rules.”
On Instagram he wrote, “For the last seven years, P’Nut 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.”
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