In a series of moves that have left animal-lovers and social-media users heartbroken, angry, and in shock, the goon squad of New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) on Wednesday, October 30, invaded the home of Mark Longo, seized his domesticated pet squirrel Peanut and his domesticated pet raccoon, Fred, and, shortly thereafter, killed the animals.
It is an attack that has set social media on fire with expressions of justified outrage, and appears to be turning into a cypher for the coming presidential election, being viewed by many upset Americans as the epitome of officious, heartless, bureaucratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s worldview and the more “live and let live,” private property-respecting, realistic approach to governance seen as the purview of Republicans.
However one looks at the matter, it is shocking and heartbreaking, angering, and educational.
On Friday, Mr. Longo posted the stunning news to his 500,000 followers on Instagram, writing, in part, that, despite the fact that his seven years' worth of posts featuring “PNut” and Fred were wildly popular, and had inspired him and his wife to move to New York state to start a non-profit animal rescue shelter, someone (or more than one person), must have “reported” his pet squirrel and raccoon to the so-called “authorities” who live like parasites off tax cash in the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
“Well internet, you WON. You took one of the most amazing animals away from me because of your selfishness. To the group of people who called DEC, there’s a special place in hell for you. Today at 10am Wednesday, Oct 30, 2024… The NY State DEC showed up to my house and took Peanut. He was TAKEN to the EUTHANIZED. Im in shock, disbelief, and disgusted to the people who did this to, PNUT. For the last 7 years, Peanut 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. Last year we moved to NY in hopes of starting a NONPROFIT animal rescue in PNUT’s Name.”
One cannot help shaking one’s head at the mindless, heartless, lockstep cruelty, at the thuggish utilitarianism and commando-like police-statism in this – which is on display for all to see, even as this poor couple suffers the loss of two beloved animal friends.
NEW: The owner of Peanut the squirrel explains how New York officials raided his house, took Peanut and his raccoon, and k*lled them.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 2, 2024
7-year-old Peanut and Fred the raccoon were euthanized after anonymous complaints.
“Officers raided my house as if I was a drug dealer. I was… pic.twitter.com/sSlbandoYO
Soon after the combined aggression of the NY DEC and bureaucrats in Chemung County Dept of Health (Chemung is on the southern side of New York state, abutting Pennsylvania), Mr. Longo had the opportunity to speak to TMZ, saying:
“It not only tears my family apart, but Peanut was the cornerstone of our non-profit animal rescue. And ten to twelve DEC officers raided my house as if I was a drug dealer. I was sat outside my house for five hours. I had to get a police escort to my bathroom. I wasn’t even allowed to feed my rescue horses breakfast or lunch. I was sat there, like a criminal, after they interrogated my wife to check out her immigration status, then proceeded to ask me if I had cameras in my house, then proceeded to go through every cabinet, nook, and cranny of my house for a squirrel and a raccoon.”
A stunned TMZ host asked, “They got a search warrant?!”
To which Mr. Longo nodded and replied:
“They got a search warrant?! Four departments and a judge signed-off on a search warrant for a squirrel and a raccoon, and then they took them and killed them.”
Another TMZ reporter asked, “Why did they go through all that? To get a search warrant for an animal that has been with you, very safely – and the world witnessed it -- for seven years? Why now, suddenly, do they show up with a search warrant and take these animals?”
Mr. Longo was baffled, as well.
“We haven’t a clue. We don’t know who made the complaints. Again, Peanut was an indoor squirrel, not harming anybody. He’s been with us for seven years not a single complaint was ever filed for this animal. We had him for seven-and-a-half years. He became the world’s most famous squirrel. We weren’t hiding him, by any means. He became the first squirrel on TikTok to hit a million followers. He did every news station around the world. He’s helped people—he’s helped kids gather joy. And then we started a non-profit animal rescue, CALLED Peanut’s Freedom Farm, to help animals like Peanut fight a good fight when they’re in a neglected case or they’re sitting in a slaughter auction, and he was the cornerstone of our life and our organization. We used his platform to help raise money for the 300 animals we have at our sanctuary.”
It's almost impossible to put into words the level of outrage people worldwide are feeling and expressing, but X, Tesla, and Space-X owner Elon Musk put it well on his X Feed, writing, in one response to Mike Solana, Editor-in-Chief of PirateWires, who posted a montage of Peanut and Longo:
“Government overreach in action”
When Dogecoin developer Billy Markus, using his handle Shibetoshi Nakamoto, posted that “…a taxpayer funded agency raiding a man’s house to murder his rescue pets is just plain evil,” Mr. Musk wrote:
“Yeah! Also, the legacy media says you’re far right if you care about the government killing pet squirrels…”
And it turns out that, contrary to the bureaucracy-inducing, bureaucracy-excusing, bureaucracy-expanding pop media, many, many people around the world care about the government killing pet squirrels.
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As more folks got word, they started to wonder about the tax-eaters who might have been part of this terrible act of “officialdom,” and some X users investigated, uncovering info on the "environmental conservation" bureaucrats who appear to have been involved, and revealing the larger bureaucratic picture in NY state. As the latter X post notes, these people have shut away their accounts from public contact or observation.
The anger is not dissipating. But Mr. Longo is trying to build something positive, in the memory of Peanut and Fred. On Instagram, he concluded his announcement about this home-invasion, theft, and killing by telling followers he and his wife would continue to support the needs of the vulnerable.
“@pnuts_freedom_farm will forever live in PNUT’s memory. With over 350 rescues, we’ve relied heavily on PNUT and his internet family to gather donations to help more animals. I don’t even know how will (sic) continue to fundraise for this nonprofit. I’ll be taking a break from social media for a bit. To the people who did this… THANK YOU for breaking apart a family and crushing any hopes of our nonprofit to survive. I want to thank those who have stuck by up (sic) for the last 7 years to watch peanut and his antic(s).
I will set up a fundraiser for those who want to donate in Peanuts name. I’ll never give up on this nonprofit or those who fell in love with peanut. Thank you all. Mark Longo”
The good hearts of Mr. Longo and his wife, and all who are speaking up to support them, are evident.
And something else is evident.
Mr. Longo relies on charity – real people, showing they care, revealing their preferences and standards by their own voluntary actions to help animals, showing that they approve of Mr. Longo’s kind treatment of animals.
The vile, perversely titled “New York Department of Environmental Conservation” never “asks for charitable donations.” It demands.
It doesn’t have to please people or show that it does well by animals. It demands tax money, garnered by the threat of government guns, police action, and courts – all, also funded through the coercion of statist taxation.
Thus, those who see this Hochul bureaucracy breaking the loving bonds between man and animal also can see the way all political officialdom uses commands rather than asking, uses compulsion rather than voluntary contribution, to the point of destroying your choice of gas stove, or breaking into your home and killing your pets.
The differences between voluntary, classical liberalism and contemporary government couldn’t be starker, and they are opening more eyes to the wickedness of the bureaucratic political system that has grown and grown like a disease, everywhere in the United States.
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