Peanut the Squirrel’s family, Mark Longo and Daniela Bittner are reportedly getting ready to sue the state of New York for “executing” the viral pet.
On October 30, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation raided Mark Longo’s home to seize his TikTok-famous squirrel, Peanut.
A day later, Longo posted a video to Instagram and TikTok revealing that the DEC euthanized Peanut as well as another animal, a raccoon known online as Fred, to test them for rabies.
It was then reported that New York planned to kill Peanut the Squirrel ahead of the raid, even if the viral animal didn’t have rabies, due to laws in the state surrounding ownership of wild animals.
On Wednesday, November 27, the New York Post reported that Longo and Bittner have started the process of filing a lawsuit against the state claiming that the government may have lied about an agent being bitten by Peanut, which prompted the rabies test.
Peanut the Squirrel’s family sets up lawsuit against New York
“It is submitted that the notion that a DEC agent and/or other respondents’ agent was ‘bitten’ by Peanut may be false and/or manufactured,” the claim reads.
“It is further submitted that even if an agent was in fact bitten, killing Peanut would still be unnecessary, unjustified, improper, and illegal, it is further submitted that there is no claim that Fred the raccoon bit anyone, and thus, the killing of Fred was unnecessary, unjustified, improper, and illegal.”
Longo and Bittner’s complaint says that they were denied due process, as they only learned about the death of the animals through news reports, and said the raid left their home damaged.
The New York Post says the complaint also takes issue with how the animals were put down, saying it was not done humanely.
“They were executed, not euthanized,” they said.
This isn’t the only squirrel story to make headlines in November, either. Kick streamer CaptainGee found himself in the hospital after approaching a “friendly” squirrel who bit him on the finger, drawing blood in the process.
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