The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is embroiled in two lawsuits resulting from its raid on the home of Mark Longo and the killing of his pets.
In what was a tragic example of government overreach, DEC conducted a raid in November 2024 on Longo’s house confiscating his pets, Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon. DEC then killed Peanut and Fred.
Longo, Peanut, and Fred became internet sensations on social media for their antics and fun costumes.
DEC also confiscated Albert the Alligator from a different home in May 2024 from his 30-year home Hamburg, NY for similar administrative government overreach reasons. A lawsuit is also pending on Albert’s case.
Longo and his attorney Nora Marino announced their plans to sue DEC in an interview over the weekend on ‘Fox News Live’.
Longo wants answers as to why his pets were seized, killed, and dissected by DEC.
Longo was emotional in talking about the incident saying, “I was trying not to cry, but the answers to the questions as to why Peanut and Fred were killed need to be answered.”
“This is about government flexing their muscles and doing something because they can. It's an abuse of power and it's governmental overreach,” said attorney Marino. Marino maintains her client’s constitutional rights have been “trampled” saying, “The only way to get justice here is with this lawsuit.”
Marino added, “I've seen this more often than I would have liked to in my career - governmental overreach and governmental bullying and intimidation. Really, you're going to send 10 cars and eight armed men to this house and engage in a five-hour raid for a squirrel and a raccoon. It's ridiculous, it's unnecessary.
“This was a paperwork issue that we were dealing with through the DEC. We took the exam and applied for the wildlife rehabbers license through the DEC,” said Longo. “They knew I was doing the proper steps to get the paperwork. I just truly believe that they saw that I was doing to get these animals registered and they thought, let's go in and take them and kill them before you can get everything done.”
Judicial Watch also announced that they have filed suit against New York State for records relating to the seizure, testing and euthanizing on the controversial killing of ‘Peanut the Squirrel’ and ‘Fred the Raccoon’.
“The heartless killing of ‘Peanut the Squirrel’ by New York State bureaucrats shocked America,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “And now these same bureaucrats don’t want to turn over one document about Peanut’s death and their abusive raid on Peanut’s home. Judicial Watch’s lawsuit aims to get to the bottom of this abuse of government power.”
The suit is based on DEC’s “ refusal to disclose the records requested by” Judicial Watch and seeks to compel the state to release the requested records according to the state’s Freedom of Information Law. DEC failed to provide information and continued to stall from the time of the initial request on November 6,2024 all the way through until February11, 2025 when DEC denied the appeal to get the information without adequate reason.