Here’s Why Trump’s Campaign Is Posting About a Dead Squirrel
Posted on 11/04/2024
It’s tough to think that a squirrel might tilt the presidential election, but it’s 2024, so here we are.
It all started last week, when an Instagram-famous rodent named Peanut was taken from a house near Elmira, New York, along with a raccoon named Fred. Peanut had lived with Mark Longo and his wife, Daniela, for the past seven years; Fred had lived there for about five months. Rescuing Peanut from near-death and bonding with him had inspired the couple to start a nonprofit animal sanctuary — P’Nut Freedom Farm — and Fred had been left at their doorstep.
But then, on Oct. 30, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) raided their home, and after a five-hour search, the two animals were confiscated. According to a statement given to WENY, a local TV station, by the DEC and the county health department, Peanut had bitten one of the investigators, and both animals had to be euthanized in order to test for rabies.
In a more reasonable timeline, the animals’ caretakers and fans would mourn them, and perhaps it would spark internet discourse on the ethics of keeping wild animals indoors, effectively as pets. (All the other animals in their care live outside.) But like a 2024 Murphy’s law, if something ends up trending, it must become political.
So when Longo posted about his anger with the DEC for using tax dollars to raid his nonprofit sanctuary, it got picked up by local Republican politicians blaming Gov. Kathy Hochul. Then Elon Musk, the world richest’s man, got involved, meming the squirrel to oblivion while his minions began cranking out AI sludge of former President Donald Trump and Peanut standing triumphantly, together. Trump’s campaign posted on TikTok: “Vote Trump for Peanut.” His account wrote that Peanut was “needlessly murdered by Democrat bureaucrats in New York,” adding: “We will avenge you on Tuesday at the ballot box.”
By Sunday, the squirrel was on the cover of the New York Post.
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Longo tells Rolling Stone that he is surprised that, in such a fraught week in American history, anyone cares this much about his squirrel, but he does appreciate the outpouring of support. “The fact that my squirrel made national world history [in] the last week is nothing short of incredible,” he tells Rolling Stone. “But that’s not what I wanted from this. I wanted my animal.”
Who is Peanut and how did he become a famous squirrel?
About seven years ago, Mark Longo, then living in Connecticut and working in New York, was leaving a job in the city and saw a squirrel get hit by a car. When he went to scare its baby back onto the sidewalk, the squirrel ran up his leg instead. With only one eye open and a bad limp, Longo started to call local vets. “They all said they would probably just euthanize him,” he told the YouTube channel The Koala in 2022. “So I started researching squirrels.” After eight-months of DIY rehab, he said, he released Peanut into his backyard, but the squirrel was quickly attacked by another animal, losing half his tail in the process. “That was pretty much the end of Peanut’s wildlife career,” he said. It did, though, spark his interest in rescuing animals. He launched an Instagram page for his pet, fired up a career as an OnlyFans model (yes, his handle there is Squirrel Daddy), and in a few years, had enough money for him and his wife to ditch city life for Western New York.
Most of the animals they took in — horses, alpacas — don’t require licensing. But it wasn’t legal for the star of the operation, Peanut, as a potential rabies vector, to live long-term indoors. About six months ago, after Peanut’s star began to rise, anonymous complaints flooded into the Department of Environmental Conservation. He got a call warning him to get right with the state, and he started the process of registering Peanut as an educational animal. “Me and my wife went and took the wildlife [rehabilitator] license [test],” he says. “We were in the process of getting paperwork filed. We were doing our due diligence.” He says they had occasional visits from local wildlife services but that they never found any issues at the farm. “Animal Control became an acquaintance,” he says. “They were getting so many calls and complaints, and they would come up here and say, everything is good. All the animals up here are fine.”
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When did Fred the raccoon get involved?
According to Longo, Fred was left at the shelter’s doorstep a month or two after that initial call from the DEC. He says that he and his wife were so taken by the animal that they, admittedly, didn’t look into additional licensing to keep it. “He had like 60 ticks that we plucked off,” he says. “We cleaned him up, we got him prepped, and he was going to return to the wild as soon as he got big enough.” Fred quickly became one of the stars of their social media channels.
What happened with the raid?
While the DEC did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment, Longo claims that it was an organized effort by internet trolls to overwhelm the agency with anonymous complaints that brought the raid. As he has tearfully recounted many times over the past days, after a judge signed off on a search warrant, six DEC officers as well as a handful of other law enforcement arrived at his home demanding the squirrel and the raccoon.
“My wife immediately told the police officers where Fred was,” he says. “We did try to keep Peanut away, to see if I could talk them off a ledge.” The investigation lasted five hours, he says, which meant that his rescue horses missed multiple meals and necessary care because he couldn’t tend to them. “These are animals that have been starved,” he says. “And now you’re starving them yourself.”
Since the raid, Longo has been quick to criticize the Department of Environmental Conservation — a statewide agency run out of Albany — for its handling of their case. He says he’s had plenty of interactions with local wildlife authorities, and that they found no issues with the farm.
Then things got political?
“I’m the first one to say that I shy away from politics, but it sparks me in the sense of, ‘This is how the government is run in New York State?’” he tells Rolling Stone. “I don’t want Peanut’s name to die in vain.”
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Keeping a raccoon — an animal that is known to carry rabies — in their house without appropriate licensing was illegal, but they have retained a lawyer and plan to pursue legal action, though Longo declines to comment specifically on what that will be.
It all started last week, when an Instagram-famous rodent named Peanut was taken from a house near Elmira, New York, along with a raccoon named Fred. Peanut had lived with Mark Longo and his wife, Daniela, for the past seven years; Fred had lived there for about five months. Rescuing Peanut from near-death and bonding with him had inspired the couple to start a nonprofit animal sanctuary — P’Nut Freedom Farm — and Fred had been left at their doorstep.
But then, on Oct. 30, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) raided their home, and after a five-hour search, the two animals were confiscated. According to a statement given to WENY, a local TV station, by the DEC and the county health department, Peanut had bitten one of the investigators, and both animals had to be euthanized in order to test for rabies.
In a more reasonable timeline, the animals’ caretakers and fans would mourn them, and perhaps it would spark internet discourse on the ethics of keeping wild animals indoors, effectively as pets. (All the other animals in their care live outside.) But like a 2024 Murphy’s law, if something ends up trending, it must become political.
So when Longo posted about his anger with the DEC for using tax dollars to raid his nonprofit sanctuary, it got picked up by local Republican politicians blaming Gov. Kathy Hochul. Then Elon Musk, the world richest’s man, got involved, meming the squirrel to oblivion while his minions began cranking out AI sludge of former President Donald Trump and Peanut standing triumphantly, together. Trump’s campaign posted on TikTok: “Vote Trump for Peanut.” His account wrote that Peanut was “needlessly murdered by Democrat bureaucrats in New York,” adding: “We will avenge you on Tuesday at the ballot box.”
By Sunday, the squirrel was on the cover of the New York Post.
Editor’s picks
Longo tells Rolling Stone that he is surprised that, in such a fraught week in American history, anyone cares this much about his squirrel, but he does appreciate the outpouring of support. “The fact that my squirrel made national world history [in] the last week is nothing short of incredible,” he tells Rolling Stone. “But that’s not what I wanted from this. I wanted my animal.”
Who is Peanut and how did he become a famous squirrel?
About seven years ago, Mark Longo, then living in Connecticut and working in New York, was leaving a job in the city and saw a squirrel get hit by a car. When he went to scare its baby back onto the sidewalk, the squirrel ran up his leg instead. With only one eye open and a bad limp, Longo started to call local vets. “They all said they would probably just euthanize him,” he told the YouTube channel The Koala in 2022. “So I started researching squirrels.” After eight-months of DIY rehab, he said, he released Peanut into his backyard, but the squirrel was quickly attacked by another animal, losing half his tail in the process. “That was pretty much the end of Peanut’s wildlife career,” he said. It did, though, spark his interest in rescuing animals. He launched an Instagram page for his pet, fired up a career as an OnlyFans model (yes, his handle there is Squirrel Daddy), and in a few years, had enough money for him and his wife to ditch city life for Western New York.
Most of the animals they took in — horses, alpacas — don’t require licensing. But it wasn’t legal for the star of the operation, Peanut, as a potential rabies vector, to live long-term indoors. About six months ago, after Peanut’s star began to rise, anonymous complaints flooded into the Department of Environmental Conservation. He got a call warning him to get right with the state, and he started the process of registering Peanut as an educational animal. “Me and my wife went and took the wildlife [rehabilitator] license [test],” he says. “We were in the process of getting paperwork filed. We were doing our due diligence.” He says they had occasional visits from local wildlife services but that they never found any issues at the farm. “Animal Control became an acquaintance,” he says. “They were getting so many calls and complaints, and they would come up here and say, everything is good. All the animals up here are fine.”
Related Content
When did Fred the raccoon get involved?
According to Longo, Fred was left at the shelter’s doorstep a month or two after that initial call from the DEC. He says that he and his wife were so taken by the animal that they, admittedly, didn’t look into additional licensing to keep it. “He had like 60 ticks that we plucked off,” he says. “We cleaned him up, we got him prepped, and he was going to return to the wild as soon as he got big enough.” Fred quickly became one of the stars of their social media channels.
What happened with the raid?
While the DEC did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment, Longo claims that it was an organized effort by internet trolls to overwhelm the agency with anonymous complaints that brought the raid. As he has tearfully recounted many times over the past days, after a judge signed off on a search warrant, six DEC officers as well as a handful of other law enforcement arrived at his home demanding the squirrel and the raccoon.
“My wife immediately told the police officers where Fred was,” he says. “We did try to keep Peanut away, to see if I could talk them off a ledge.” The investigation lasted five hours, he says, which meant that his rescue horses missed multiple meals and necessary care because he couldn’t tend to them. “These are animals that have been starved,” he says. “And now you’re starving them yourself.”
Since the raid, Longo has been quick to criticize the Department of Environmental Conservation — a statewide agency run out of Albany — for its handling of their case. He says he’s had plenty of interactions with local wildlife authorities, and that they found no issues with the farm.
Then things got political?
“I’m the first one to say that I shy away from politics, but it sparks me in the sense of, ‘This is how the government is run in New York State?’” he tells Rolling Stone. “I don’t want Peanut’s name to die in vain.”
Trending Stories
Keeping a raccoon — an animal that is known to carry rabies — in their house without appropriate licensing was illegal, but they have retained a lawyer and plan to pursue legal action, though Longo declines to comment specifically on what that will be.
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