Squirrel P’Nut’s caretaker fears animal was beheaded by DEC as he plans funeral and trial

An Upstate New York man fears his pet squirrel was beheaded after state agents seized the rodent from his home — as a funeral is set for the Internet-famous creature.

P’Nut’s grieving owner Mark Longo told The Post he plans to file a lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Conservation after they raided his home, took the squirrel away and euthanized it to test for rabies.

“I hope to give him a proper burial,” Longo told The Post of P’Nut’s last rites, which will be conducted through a fully functioning human funeral home that offered its space for free.

“But seven days later the body has not been returned. No rabies test results have been given.”

The DEC claimed it was forced to conduct rabies tests on P’Nut and Longo’s pet raccoon named Fred — and those tests require a sample of the subject’s brain.

It’s a prospect Longo shudders to think about, and one he’s ready to sue over.

“This is much bigger than a squirrel and a raccoon. This is about government overreach,” he said. “We want justice for what happened in my home. You violated my home. You murdered my animals.”

P’Nut – a squirrel with a penchant for proportional cowboy hats – was raised by Longo and his wife in their home for seven years, since they rescued him as an orphaned puppy.

After rehabilitating the helpless animal for eight months, they released him — but he refused to leave, so they took him into their home full-time, according to the couple.

In those years, the squirrel gathered a following on social media and inspired the Longos to move from Connecticut and open a 350-acre wildlife sanctuary upstate in Pine City.

But in October, everything came crashing down when the DEC showed up in response to an anonymous complaint about the Longos housing P’Nut and Fred in their home and, after tearing the house apart, left with the animals. P’Nut allegedly ingested one of the agents during the operation, prompting the DEC to euthanize both animals.

And Longo hasn’t heard a word from DEC since.

“I found out about my animals being murdered through a news station,” Longo said. “I, as a citizen of New York, had my animals murdered by my own government and my own government couldn’t call me to tell me what happened. I had to read it in a newspaper.

“Someone must be held accountable for the massive abuse of power,” he added.

Longo has already hired an attorney, Nora Marino, and hopes that anyone who has had a similar situation with DEC will get in touch as they prepare for their lawsuit.

“If it’s happened to you — if you know someone it’s happened to — take action, we need to call for action,” Longo said.

“What’s to stop the average Joe from calling and complaining about your neighbor now? If you complain enough, you can get a search warrant? When will it end?”

Over the next few days, however, Longo is only focused on laying his furry friends to rest, and a service may be held at an Elmira funeral home as early as Saturday.

“This should never have happened in the first place. But in a way I’m glad it did. Because it gave Peanut the voice to shine a light on what’s going on in our government,” he said.

The DEC declined to comment, citing pending litigation, when reached by The Post.