NYC NOW - A Squirrel Named Peanut, a Viral Backlash, and the Culture War That Followed

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

A beloved squirrel named Peanut, a raid by New York environmental officers, and a maelstrom of online outrage. What began as a wildlife seizure turned into a viral flashpoint in the culture wars, with fallout for innocent bystanders, overwhelmed state agencies, and the enforcement of environmental law. WNYC’s Jon Campbell unravels the saga from internet stardom to state intervention, revealing a story of mistaken identity, government overreach, and the power of online fury in an election year.

Janay, how do you feel about squirrels, like scale of one to ten? I'm going to say five. I have nothing against them, but they're no friend of mine. Why? What's up? Well, I want to tell you about a woman and a squirrel that totally upended her life. Hello, this is John. Her name's Monica. Hey, John, this is Monica Hector with Monica in photography. She is a photographer. In Missouri, she takes photos of weddings. and graduations. Been in business for about 10 years.

And one morning she woke up to a barrage of messages from people on her Facebook page for business. Probably 500 different messages, whether on my page or a personal message to my page. Messages from who? She didn't know. She had no clue who they were. But, I mean, they were just saying nasty, vile things. Yeah, you're a killer. You're horrible.

You should go to hell. You should die. I can't believe you did this. And they attack her business. There's these fake, nasty reviews on her business page. I mean, it just went on and on and on. It's pretty disgusting. So, I mean, you start getting these.

You have no idea what's going on. Like, how do you even figure out what happened? Well, it was probably six or seven hours later that a friend of mine sent me a message and said, hey, check out this new story. This is what's going on. It's this story that a lot of people. may have heard last year. It's about a pet squirrel named Peaena, who had been seized and ultimately killed by state and local authorities from this guy's house in upstate New York because he didn't have a license to have the animal. And people were blaming a woman named

Monica. And it was so clear to Monica Hector in that moment that this was a case of mistaken identity. I had no clue who Peanut the squirrel was. And all they did was looking at at people with the name of Monica Ann. They didn't look for anything else. This is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. Today, we dive into the story of Peanut the Squirrel. It's a story that didn't just up in the life of Monica Hector.

It moved like a tidal wave across mainstream and conservative media in the lead-up to last year's presidential election. Fury is growing after America's most popular critter was seized from his owner. Have you seen the videos of this squirrel? He's like, he's a genius. It's a story of what some call government overreach, of an internet mob blaming innocent people. And like so many viral sensations,

it grabbed headlines and then faded away over time. But WMYC reporter John Campbell recently got his hands on hundreds of documents and recordings through an open records request with the state of New York. They tell a fuller story about just how far the backlash around this squirrel went, about how the state's environmental conservation agency was inundated with

debt threats, and how this one particular skirmish in the online culture wars had a real-life impact on how the agency enforces laws. So initially right afterwards, we weren't allowed to do any wildlife seizures for months and months and months. And just a heads-up, this episode contains explicit language and harm to animals. So if you're not up for that, or if you're looking at listening with children, this story may not be for you. Jene, over the past few months, I have just dove into squirrel social media. I mean, did you even know that existed? No, and no judgment, John, do your thing.

You're a hardworking guy. Anything for the job, you know. I mean, there is a whole internet subculture that's dedicated to squirrels. So this is one of our baby microsquirrels. Facebook pages, thousands of people. Say hi, Jipper. Instagram, TikTok. Look at this fat ass squirrel.

And Peanut the Squirrel is among the most famous squirrels there are on the internet. Hi guys. If you've never met Peanut, welcome to Peanut the Squirrel's Instagram page. His owner, Mark Longo, spent years posting these videos of him. Boop boop. Hi, boop. Peanut is an eastern gray squirrel, but due to a genetic mutation in his genes, he is black and brown. Some the squirrel is holding waffles. Sometimes he's jumping off the fridge onto Mark's hip.

Peanut is very playful right now. And a lot of times he was wearing a cowboy hat, a little tiny squirrel cowboy hat. I finally got Peanut out of bed, mainly because I was cleaning his room and he was pissed off at me. But I wanted to pop on again with you guys. I did a short one this morning. How did Mark Longo get Peanut in the first place? So here's how Mark tells the story. And this is, you know, tough to very.

verify tough to fact check but about eight years ago mark says he was working in new york city and he came across a dead adult squirrel in the road and not too far away he said he saw a baby squirrel and i ran in the middle of the street and in hopes i could kind of shoe him out of you know any oncoming traffic i didn't want him to get hit as well and he ended up crawling up my leg do you remember like what part of the city roughly i would say in like 34th street so uh you know I kind of put him in my pocket, got it in the car, and drove him home. A squirrel in the pocket. That sounds like a Disney movie or something.

Yeah, it really does. And at first, Mark says the Disney ending he was going for was one where this squirrel goes on to live in the wild. You know, we thought what would be best for him was to do what's called a soft release. So we initially just kind of slowly incorporated him into our backyard. But it failed and he ended up getting attacked and losing half of his tail. So he did become a strictly indoor squirrel after that, and he became best friends with our cat. So Peanut becomes Mark's pet squirrel. Yeah, and the squirrel becomes a star.

Everybody, mate, Peanut the Squirrel. Peanut the Squirrel will be on with us and his owner, Mark. Hello, Mark and Peanut the Squirrel. Nice to see you. Welcome to the show. Thank you so for having us. So Mark and his wife, Daniela, they try to seize on this new celebrity status for peanut. And they start this animal sanctuary upstate near the city of Elmira right on the Pennsylvania border. My wife and I sat down and said, you know what, we have a squirrel who's made a really big impact on social media.

How can we utilize his platform to go out and help advocate for more animals? and we asked everybody to come up with the name, and Peanuts Freedom Farm was really where that stuck. Most of you all know that we have about 60 horses, 100 goats, a pack of sheep, donkeys, pigs, bunnies, and a squirrel. As of now, they say they have about 400 animals. If you guys don't be a huge favor, I was hoping to get a bunch of you to donate a few dollars

to our fundraiser right now. This will really solidify what Peanut can do here. So this kind of sounds interesting. so far. When does it start to go wrong? Well, here's the thing. Squirrels are generally in a lot of states considered to be wildlife, and wildlife isn't meant to be contained. Right. You can't keep a squirrel as a pet in New York. You can get a license that lets you rehab a squirrel for release into the wild or an exhibitor license that lets you keep a squirrel for educational purposes. But Mark didn't have either of those, he later took a test to start the licensing process.

To be honest with you, I never really saw this to be an issue considering, you know, the longevity of how I've had him, the fact that there are multiple squirrel families in New York State. But at no point that I just go, yeah, like, F these people, I've had him for so long, I don't need to do this. So early 2024, that's when the complaints start coming in. Our folks began receiving complaints about an individual using a squirrel in social media posts and videos and TikToks. I talked to Matt Krug. He's the vice president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York. That's the union that represents environmental conservation officers.

This individual was using it for social media and generate revenue that way. And that puts him on their radar. Yeah. And more complaints come in in May. There's a complaint from someone who says they're a licensed wildlife rehabber. And they mention his only fans account. What? A squirrel with an only fan's account?

No, no, no, no. Not the squirrel, not the squirrel. But Mark has an only fan's account. I use my only fans to help generate more funding for my nonprofit animal rescue. The subscription service where, you know, users can sell sexually explicit it pornography directly to their fans. I don't like to talk about it on Peanuts page because it's Penis Page and not everybody wants

to talk about that crap. Mark says he never mixed the two. But his username is Squirrel Daddy. And his profile does make clear that he's quote, Peanuts Dad. But at no point would you be able to go on Peanuts page and scroll down and go

oh, he's got an only fans page. Let's face it, it's 2025. It's not illegal. It's not a secret. You know, that's normal life these days. So these complaints are coming in. What do New York State authorities do? Well, what happens next?

We know because of these documents that we got from the State Department of Environmental Conservation, which employs actual police officers who uphold environmental law. And these documents show that an officer spoke to Mark by phone, and Mark said that people, Peanut was at his old house in Connecticut. The officer then goes back to the person who originally complained, and he says, it's a squirrel.

I'm not going to get a search warrant for a squirrel. And it's that comment right there that's almost ironic because officers eventually would get a search warrant. And that's largely because Mark keeps posting, and in July, the same person who complained notices something new. A raccoon in one of Mark's videos. Hi. I don't know if the service cut out a little bit. Are you guys still there? What's this raccoon's name, John? Please tell me it's not cashew. It is not cashew. It's Fred. So this is Fredward, guys. Can you say hi to everybody forward? Are you guys still there?

So here's the problem, Jenei. Raccoons are classified by New York State as a, quote, rabies vector species. And that means they can carry rabies sometimes even without symptoms. Matt Krug, of the union that represents environmental conservation officers, says it's a serious thing. Rabies, as some people may or may not know, it's like 99.999% fatal in people and animals when they get it. So it's not something that we mess around with in any sort of way.

So the raccoon is a really big game changer for the agents. Yeah, they see it as a public health concern. And they decide to act. That's when 10 to 12 officers and other people from the New York State, D.C. show up at Mark's farm. They've got trucks. They've got guns. And they've got a search warrant signed by a local judge.

They came into my house. They even asked my wife for immigration status. They asked me if I had cameras in my. house. They had a criminal judge signed a search warrant to come and take these animals. I called my wife. I was able to get a short call off and told, you know, I said, these, these here, hide those animals. Mark talks to these agents. He says the animals aren't in the house. I lied right to their face. Anybody in my position would have done the same thing. We love our animals unconditionally. At the end of the day, people are going to defend their lifelong pet.

He lets the officers in. They start searching. This is all, of course, according to documents that we've obtained through open records requests. Mark's wife, Daniela, comes clean about Fred the raccoon, and she points them to a closet where he was in an unzipped suitcase. You say you or your wife did not put Fred in the suitcase, correct? She literally just put him in the closet, and he found my suitcase and fell asleep in my suitcase. But then the officers eventually find peanut. He's in a whirlpool tub.

He's underneath some clothing. Did the officers find anything else? Yeah, they sure did. They walked into the kitchen and there was a assault rifle sitting in a chair. A short-barreled weapon that the officer suspected was not compliant with New York's gun control laws. Were your members aware upon looking at it that it may not be compliant? Yes. I told them that the gun was in mine.

I provided the contact information to the owner of the rifle who happens to also be on the mortgage and the deed of the property. They tried to get me to sign paperwork claiming that it was mine, and I refused to sign it. And then there's this one other key thing that happens, really the biggest key thing here. As a biologist was putting peanut into a crate, the state says peanut bit her.

that is not good. I asked Matt Krug about this. So, Mark Longo, over and over and over again, raises doubt about that bite. We have not gotten any evidence to say this happened. You know, he's on social media every single day. There was no visible bite marks on the gloves. What do you say to him when he says that?

Someone was bitten by this creature. So they take Mark's animals. and from what you've told me about Mark so far, it seems like he's pretty attached to Peanut. Yeah, and at this point he's just left wondering. Hi, everyone. I just wanted to update all of you. The DEC will not tell us whether or not peanut is alive or not.

So I can't give you a definitive answer of whether or not he's still here with us. I just want to say thank you for everybody who signed. Coming up, what happened to Peanut and Fred? Peanut was the best thing that ever happened to us. And how their seizure by state authorities last fall continues to reverberate today. We were essentially handcuffed to do our jobs after that. Okay, John, let's do a quick recap. So we've met Mark Longo and his pet squirrel peanut.

We know that peanut is this internet sensation, and he has hundreds of thousands of fans on social media. and now there's this seizure. What happens when a squirrel bites anyone? Well, what happens next is all laid out in those documents we got through the Open Records request. And it shows that by the time of this search at Mark Longo's home, the DEC agents had already consulted with the local health department. And now that a DEC staffer reported being bitten, the health department determined it was

best to test both of the animals for rabies. And Jeney, the only way you can do that, you have to put them down and decapitate them to look at their brain. Hi, everyone. I don't know how we could say this. I just want to say thank you to all of you. You know, it was the best thing that ever happened to us. I'm guessing Mark's followers had a pretty strong reaction to this. It blew up fast.

And by the way, the rabies tests were negative. And this starts the chaos. Mark Longo, the man who just lost the squirrel, joins us now. This sucks. How are you taking it? Mr. Cuomo, I just want to say thank you so much for inviting me on the show. What happened today and what transpired throughout this week has been nothing short of a tragedy and a disgrace to the New York State.

You got to remember, this was just days before the presidential election. The craziest thing. Look, let me leave. You had J.D. Vance, who was the vice presidential candidate, talking about peanut on the campaign trail. Is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels? Joe Rogan, the big-time podcaster, he brought it up on his podcast, which gets millions of listens. Why would you kill that cute little squirrel that was obviously a pet and trained from the time it was a baby? It was really cute.

This was a really bad situation for the DEC. I think they didn't see any of this coming. I think they thought this was another day in the office. I don't think this was the first time they've ever done something like this, but this is the first time that they were caught by millions of people. This is where innocent bystanders get dragged into this internet culture war moment. People online started looking for somebody to blame, and one name started circulating.

almost immediately. Her name was Monica Kiesler. She's a photographer from Texas. What's Monica's connection to this? It's not totally clear. Monica Kiesler was active in these private Facebook groups that are huge, dedicated to rehabbing squirrels and squirrels in general.

And best I can tell, there was some sort of dispute between her and another person that was active in these groups, and all of a sudden, Monica's name and contact information start popping up and people were accusing her of being the one that filed the complaint with the DEC that got all of this started. Kiesler said she had nothing to do with it,

and you can actually see that in the documents, that the state says they have no record of Monica Kiesler filing a report. But here's where it spirals, because once her name was out there, those other Monicas who are photographers, they start getting targeted, too. I know it's just caused havoc in my life. People like Monica Hector in Missouri, who we heard from earlier. And if you've noticed my Facebook page is not how to post since Thanksgiving because I can't post to it.

You can't post to it because why? People will not leave me alone. Oh, so if you post something, it's like a wave of peanut the squirrel messages. I hope you die. I hope someone. takes care of you like they did peanut kind of things. I've had one photography shoot since that has happened, one, and I've booked absolutely no weddings this year. That's not usual, right? I mean, about 15 to 20 weddings a year. So, I mean, there's got to be like a feeling of helplessness

here, right? I mean, like, yes, most definitely. Is there anything you can do? Well, as of right now, Local law enforcement I have talked to the local county prosecuting attorney, which I've turned over all the death threats and things of that sort to him. The last word from the Attorney General's office in Missouri was that they were going to turn this over to the FBI. I talked to another Monica from Northern California who said the same thing. Death threats, business ruined, all because they shared a first name. They were telling me that I should kill myself. They said, I hope your kids die because this is what you deserve for what you did. Granted, I didn't do anything.

It's just not a good time for Monica's at all. No, not at all. And the DEC starts getting flooded with calls and threats from all over the country. I live in Southern Illinois. I got hundreds of voicemails under an open records request. Watching the national news and what you guys did to that guy's squirrel and raccoon, You guys are disgusting, fucking communist. You are evil, evil people.

You will not get away with this. Yes, Joe Namath is my cousin, the famous quarterback that played for the New York Jets. What you folks did to that squirrel peanut, it makes me sick. There were bomb threats that came in via email that forced thousands of workers to work from home for a period of time. Your agents, they're righted Mark Longo and took and killed Peanut Fred. They still need their heads removed with a fucking bat. I am going to kill and murder everyone who is involved in the peanut situation. Anybody whose name was on the DEC's website was being targeted, their families to the union rep for the DEC officers told me that police had to provide round-the-clock protection for some of DEC's top management.

and even going as far as having to take their kids to the school drop off and pick-up line. Fuck you, you communist bitches in New York. Trump. So this clearly isn't just about a cute little squirrel named peanut anymore. It's about rage and in politics, what some call government overreach, even. What does Mark make of this and how all of this is playing out? You know, I asked Mark about all of that. I mean, some of the voicemails, there was the Monica Kiesler situation.

Who do you think deserves blame for that? Like, why do you think that part of this happened? To be honest with you, I don't know. I've always been somebody that said, hey, we're going to fight this fight. We're going to do it with the legal way. The last thing I wanted anybody to do is go out and threaten anybody. I came out and made multiple statements. That's not why we're here, guy.

This is not about exacting revenge. and I have never blamed Monica Kiesler. Just to kind of push back on that. At some point, I think you did post perhaps an image of her. Do you regret that at all, given the threats that she did get? I do not agree with everything that she had gone through. But again, in my opinion, if you had nothing to do with it, I am literally right here.

And since this has happened at no point has any bit. I had her lawyer call me and he was laughing about the situation. I reached out to Monica's attorney to, you know, ask about whether that call happened and whether it happened, as Mark Longo says it did. I haven't gotten a response. You know, it's really not often that we hear from folks when they're in the middle of a social media firestorm like this one. What is Mark up to now? Mark has sued saying he's lost a lot of money after losing. losing peanut, both him and his animal sanctuary.

The squirrel was a really powerful fundraising tool, he says. And he's also pushing for a new law called Peanuts Law. This is a bill in Albany that would require animals to be quarantined to be watched for rabies symptoms rather than euthanized. And it's a long shot. But Jenae, even without that law, Matt Krug, the union rep for the Environmental Conservation officers, he says this incident has rattled leadership at the Department of Environmental Conservation. Remember, the agency was flooded with death threats. I know they were scared. So that definitely

did have a ripple effect. So let's talk about the post-peanut ripple effects. Does this continue to have an effect on your members and your members work, more importantly? Absolutely. So initially, afterwards, after we got through all the threats, we weren't allowed to do any wildlife seizures for months and months and months. We weren't allowed to execute any warrants without the acting commissioner's approval. Some of these were simple warrants and we're waiting weeks and weeks and weeks to be able to execute them and go out and do our seizure, do our investigation because we still have a job to do essentially, right? It's environmental protection. We went through a process of right afterwards where we weren't allowed by management to even do our road

checkpoints during big game season looking for illegal wildlife, deer being transferred back and crossed state borders, loaded guns. And that, I mean, that directive was directly tied to the peanut thing, you think? Mm-hmm. Absolutely. We were essentially handcuffed to do our jobs after that. We had an officer quit who had 17 years on, said, the department doesn't have my back, you know, this isn't worth me, my family being threatened. He also says officers are struggling to get prosecutors to take on their cases in the months following the Peanut Saga. The local district attorney didn't respond to my request for comments. The State Department of Environmental Conservation declined my request for an interview.

And just to be clear, Mark Longo hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing and there's no indication he will be. What do you want the public to know about your members and the work they did that day and leading up to that day? Our members are professionals. We go through a six to seven month police academy. We got a warrant. We followed our procedures. And we were doing our jobs.

From your perspective, it was by the book, right? Yes. Correct. This was done by the book. Following the criminal procedure law with a signed warrant from an elected judge and charges were pending. Felony charges for the gun should have been pending. And this defendant should be arrested for this. Because if this individual, if it was a poor kid in downtown Albany with the same gun,

he'd already probably be in state prison. But this instead is a social media, quote unquote, star. and utilizing all the press and publicity and hasn't been charged yet. But he should be. Anything else you want to touch on? Anything we missed? If you weren't completely turned away, we are hiring another, doing another civil service test in November of 2025. So I hope you'll sign up for the test because you can really do some good for the environment and be on the front line.

so take our test, become a conservation officer, or we're looking for the best qualified candidates for it. John, thanks so much for your reporting on this. I'm really hoping you don't switch career fields. My pleasure, Jene. That's WNYC's John Campbell. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre.

We'll be back on Monday.