Digital Social Hour
How One Squirrel United a Nation Against Injustice | Mark Longo
Sun, 08 Dec 2024
🐿️ How One Squirrel United a Nation Against Injustice! 🇺🇸 Join Sean Kelly as he sits down with Mark Longo, the man behind the viral sensation Peanut the Squirrel. Discover the shocking truth behind a government raid that sparked nationwide outrage and united people across political lines. 😱 Mark shares his incredible journey from mechanical engineer to animal sanctuary owner, and how a beloved pet squirrel became the face of a movement against government overreach. Learn about the heartbreaking loss of Peanut and Fred, and the ongoing fight for justice that's capturing hearts worldwide. 💔 🎙️ Tune in for eye-opening revelations about: • The truth behind the controversial raid • How social media rallied support from unexpected places • The dark side of animal auctions and slaughterhouses • Mark's mission to save neglected farm animals • The challenges of crypto fundraising for a noble cause Don't miss this powerful conversation that'll make you question everything you thought you knew about animal rights and government authority. Hit that play button now and prepare to be moved! 🔥 Subscribe for more jaw-dropping stories and insider insights on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly. Join the conversation and be part of the change! 🚀 #JusticeForPeanut #AnimalRights #GovernmentOverreach #news #ctvnews #governmentoverreach #keepingitdutch #usnews CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:45 - The Raid 03:56 - Rabies Scare 05:20 - Peanut's Impact 06:54 - OnlyF*ns Scandal 10:28 - Bogus Search Warrant 12:45 - Frequency of Incidents 14:05 - Public Reaction 17:04 - OnlyF*ns Discussion 18:30 - Starting the Sanctuary 19:24 - Aftermath of Peanut's Death 22:06 - State's Inexperience 25:18 - Saving Animals from Auctions 27:13 - Animal Auctions Overview 29:20 - Moving Out Discussion 30:10 - How to Help Animals 31:30 - Peanut Coin Initiative 36:00 - Justice for Peanut 38:45 - Government Overreach Issues 40:30 - Supreme Court on Squirrel Case 43:20 - Supporting Freedom Farm 44:15 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Mark Longo https://www.instagram.com/squirrel_dad_12 LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened during the government raid?
And now you're being treated like you're a drug dealer.
All right, guys. Really excited for this one today to get Mark's side of the story because the PR's been crazy on this, man. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate it, Sean. It really, really means a lot. Absolutely. How did you feel seeing all those articles coming out?
You know, it was... We didn't want this story to go away. You know, it was a tragedy. It was government overreach. It was...
basically another day in the office for these guys um when they came here we made sure that the world saw this and the world came together for it and you know usually you kind of see the the table of the shift right you always have the people that disagree and people that agree when he came to this one it was like a 95 to 5 percenter and you know you have the biggest people around the world going what the hell happened to you right that was the biggest part of just trying to get this story out
You were uniting Democrats and Republicans, like everyone.
Right. It was, that was the craziest part is the way this transpired and the timing of it was, it's like a movie. Yeah. You know, it's three days before election and your government just comes in and it's surreal. You know, nine people with weapons show up at your house for two small animals. Crazy. You're like, You've never gotten in trouble before.
You've never been involved with any criminal activity. And now you're being treated like you're a drug dealer. It's something I'll never forget. I bet. So nine people. Which agency was that? This was the DEC, the Department of Health, the Chemung County of New York State. There's a lot of agencies involved in this. It wasn't even just one. Jeez.
They were all working together. They show up with a search warrant, right? Right.
It did a 10-month investigation on Squirrel and Raccoon.
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Chapter 2: How did the public react to Peanut's story?
That is nuts. So it was planned out. Oh, yeah. But you really couldn't do much at that point.
At that point, you know, five hours of being detained in your own house. You know, you're in the corner of your driveway. You're being asked if there's cameras in your house. My wife's German. They asked her immigration status as if that was relevant to anything.
That is nuts. Did they take the camera footage?
We didn't have cameras in the house. And they weren't wearing body cams. So, you know, then you park me in the corner of my own house to the point where I ask for the bathroom. An officer took me to my own bathroom, took apart the toilet before I went to the bathroom. You're here for a squirrel and a raccoon. Why are you inspecting my toilet before I take a leak? Wow.
You know, there's so much to this story that the world didn't see. You know, and this is all about the justification of killing two animals. But if you look at the bigger picture here, this is human rights, this is animal rights, and this is, you know, what needs to stop? This can't happen. And that's what our fight is all about now.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Mark face after Peanut's death?
Absolutely. Yeah, they did that. And then the coordinated media attack with the rabies stuff seemed very planned out. Oh, yeah.
You know, and it wasn't like I don't mean to disrespect them at all. You know, these are people that have families and stuff, but you got caught. Then you fabricated a story that was such a lie that people didn't even bat an eye when you said it. You know, you took two animals and you didn't even do your own data. Like New York State has its own data on rabies.
And you picked a squirrel who has never ever... Squirrels never have had any case of rabies in the United States alone, let alone New York State. And there's 35 cases of raccoons in the last almost 20 years. And peanut was... A famous squirrel, just something that could not live in his natural habitat. I found him as a young squirrel. He was five weeks old. We rehabbed him.
We put him back outside. He ended up getting attacked, lost half of his tail. Came an indoor squirrel whose best friend was a cat. I had a Tom and Jerry in my house. It was the coolest thing on the planet. It was something that was like, the internet needs to see this. This wasn't like, people call me the squirrel dad. If I walked up to you, Sean, and was like, my name's Mark, a.k.a.
Chapter 4: What is the truth behind the rabies claims?
the Squirrel Daddy, you'd laugh at my face. This isn't like, oh, I'm flexing some clout here. You walked down the street and you're like, hey, Squirrel Daddy. It's not something to be – I'm proud of Peanut, but I wasn't sitting here trying to flaunt the Squirrel Dad effect.
It was just something cool to be in the background of a unique animal, like a squirrel using a litter box and dressing up as Cowboy. You know, if that doesn't make you smile, I don't know if you have a heart. I mean, that was the whole premise of this entire thing. This whole social media thing was to just go, hey, you know, this might be a unique animal, might just be a fluffy tree rat.
Chapter 5: How did social media influence the movement?
But, you know, everybody needs love. And this was a prime example of just love and joy in an animal. And we loved sharing it. You know, kids loved him. Families loved him. We've had people travel the world to meet him. Wow. Like people from England travel to New York. He was world renowned. Yep. He was deemed the world's most famous squirrel. Like he did interviews from around the world.
We've had news, you know, the documentaries about him. He's been on peanut butter labels. Like the dude was more successful than me, you know, and it was,
Chapter 6: What are the issues with animal auctions?
it was awesome like i took a back seat to something really cool and i was just a proud you know person to be a part of it and you know the best part about it was you know reading those comments reading those dms of how peanut changed our life wow you know we had you know we had a person who was like listen i was a couple days away from you know ending myself and i came across your page and i was like dude here's my number if you ever feel like that ever again i'll i'll send you whatever you need just you know
you're not fighting alone like there's a lot of us who have mental health i i have it i have really bad anxiety and i used animals to help combat that you know so it wasn't just a positive movement it was you know if you need help never be silent or we're here for you so it had a lot of different effects on people and that's what i loved about it the most so when this hit
It wasn't like you walked in and your poor pet passed away, right? You had your own government who you pay taxes to come in and cut their heads off. And come from a family that trauma doesn't happen to us. You fight, you go to work, you provide for your family. And, you know, they broke a soap bottle in my bathroom. There's a stain from the soap.
Chapter 7: How can listeners help animals in need?
And we had two professional cleaners come in and couldn't get it out. So walking into my bathroom and seeing that. And I haven't even fixed my closet yet. They tore apart my closet and my wife's closet. Nothing else in the house. Wow. What do you think they were trying to find? So, you know, as this story came out, you know, obviously I was never hiding my OnlyFans.
You know, but, you know, they tried to connect puzzle pieces here. You know, this wasn't about Peanut and Fred. This was... A new guy on social media has an OnlyFans, moves to a small town, 1,800 people. And the question was, why? Well, why are you here? You know, we try our best to go, hey, listen, we want to start a community. We want to start a nonprofit. You know, squirrels live 15, 20 years.
And this is an animal page, right? This is not, I'm trying to be famous. I was like, I'm actually doing the counter opposite. I'm moving from New York City to a rural area so that I could just focus on me, my family, and animals. And I think that kind of just rubbed somebody the wrong way. Somebody who had pull, somebody who was local that might have had some connections into any agency.
And probably banded together with a couple other people to file complaints. You know, a lot of people were like, oh, it's anonymous calls from the internet. I think it might have been, but it's also not enough for a 10-month investigation. Those are the questions we want. Will we ever get them? Probably not. But it rose questions from everybody around the world.
Why did we use six figures of taxpayers' money for a 10-month investigation on a squirrel and raccoon? It's not living in an apartment in Manhattan. It's on a 350-acre farm. That's also being used for a nonprofit animal rescue. Yeah, you had a sanctuary, right? Right. So, you know, Peanuts Freedom Farm. We moved up there and that was my way of going.
This is his legacy is we're going to start something that's bigger than all of us, help more animals and bring the community together. So, you know, we're helping kids, families, and at the same time, we're helping animals. So we thought it would be perfect to do something like this in a small town. And this is what happened. Crazy.
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Chapter 8: What does the future hold for the sanctuary?
And a big thing the outlets were saying was it was illegal to own the squirrel in that state, right?
Right. And, you know, we had moved there a year prior. And we were doing stuff with the organization, getting our permits and all that stuff. And, you know, it's like going to the DMV. You know, you put in your application, you don't hear it for three months, right? It's not you put this in, you get your paperwork and, you know, call it quits. Wife and I took our tests. We put in our applications.
We're waiting for them to receive it so then we could do our interview and do the proper steps. You know, I know that common misconception here was we were just sitting here kind of doing nothing. You know, I heard like so many people like, well, they reached out to you so many times. Like, no, the only time they reached out to me was to intimidate me and tell me, you know, it's never allowed here.
We're not talking about moving an alligator from state to state. I'm not harboring a bear. It's literally we'll cut his tail off and he's a rat. So if you don't have the paperwork, it's $200 fine. Jaywalking is $200 fine. You don't get your house rated. When you get pulled over on your cell phone, you appear in court, $250 fine. You don't get your house rated.
And that was the biggest thing here is why? And it's sure as hell not the animal.
Yeah, that's nuts. Rating's a whole other level. And we were talking off camera. I'm not sure if you're allowed to say this, but the search warrant was kind of bogus, right?
Oh, yeah. You know, it's surreal. Like, you can make a movie off of this, and it's real life. You know, you bring nine people, six of which have web, and you detain a family with a search warrant that clearly states you're here for a squirrel and a raccoon. You don't even have a docket number on your search warrant. My lawyer couldn't even find it when she went to the courthouse.
And then you falsely detained me for five hours. You don't arrest me. You don't charge me with anything. You don't give me an appeal to court. I don't get a violation. I got nothing. Now what I got, I got the search warrant and I got two pieces of paper. It was a chain of evidence. The squirrel and the raccoon. And then they confiscated a weapon that wasn't even mine.
And they tried to forcibly make me sign that it was my weapon. Whoa. They even wrote my name. You know, like it says, I, you know, Mark Longo, this is my sole property. They wrote my name in there. And then they said, we need you to sign here and here. I said, I'm not signing that because that's not my weapon. I had a co-signer on the farm, a good friend of mine. He brought his rifle up.
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