{"id":133894,"date":"2025-08-10T08:31:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T08:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133894\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T08:31:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T08:31:53","slug":"pnut-the-squirrels-owners-want-10m-from-ny-for-animals-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133894\/","title":{"rendered":"P’Nut the Squirrel’s owners want $10M from NY for animal’s execution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The brutal seizure and execution of the world\u2019s most famous squirrel<\/a> threatens to cost the State of New York a staggering eight-figure settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark Longo and Daniela Bittner, the grieving owners of P\u2019Nut and his raccoon sidekick, Fred, are seeking $10 million in damages for the death of their pets at the hands of investigators, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York Court of Claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A swarm of cops and agents from the state Environmental Conservation and Health departments descended on the couple\u2019s upstate Pine City animal sanctuary<\/a> Oct. 30, where the animals were living inside Longo and Bittner\u2019s home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark Longo and Daniela Bittner are seeking $10 million in damages for the deaths of P\u2019Nut the Squirrel and his raccoon pal, Fred, at the hands of state investigators. LP Media<\/p>\n

The couple has suffered emotional trauma and financial losses since losing their star squirrel, who had become an Internet celebrity, according the lawsuit. P\u0092Nut the Squirrel\/ Instagram<\/p>\n

It is illegal to keep squirrels and raccoons as pets in New York, where they\u2019re considered wild animals.<\/p>\n

DEC officials claimed that P\u2019Nut bit an agent through thick leather gloves during the raid, which required both animals to be decapitated and tested for rabies. <\/p>\n

Although the state later admitted the rabies tests were both negative, it has never apologized nor returned the bodies of either animal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The killing of P\u2019Nut and Fred was \u201cnot due to a fear of rabies\u201d \u2013 but a \u201csenseless act of violence\u201d and \u201cobscene demonstration of government abuse,\u201d charge the new court documents, which list the state, the DEC and DOH as defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The allegations echo those outlined in a separate lawsuit filed by Longo and Bittner<\/a> on June 27 in Chemung County Supreme Court, against the county, the City of Elmira and 36 individuals from every level of local and state government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That suit sought unspecified damages<\/a> to be determined by a jury trial. <\/p>\n

DEC officials claimed that P\u2019Nut bit an agent through thick leather gloves during the raid, which required him and Fred to be decapitated and tested for rabies. AP<\/p>\n

Lawsuits filed in the state Court of Claims, like the one this week, require specific damages be listed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple has suffered emotional trauma and financial losses since losing their star squirrel, who had become an Internet celebrity, appearing in social media posts, OnlyFans content, Cameos and other monetized media, according to both suits.<\/p>\n

The DOH and DEC declined comment on the litigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brutal seizure and execution of the world\u2019s most famous squirrel threatens to cost the State of New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,3425,2041,336,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,7926,20529,67,586,132,5230,8073,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-133894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-health-department","11":"tag-lawsuits","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-pets","19":"tag-squirrels","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-upstate-new-york","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115003545863099613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}