The owner of Peanut The Squirrel draws New York into disrepute over the seizure and killing of a social media star

The owners of a pet squirrel with a huge following on social media are attacking government officials in New York, accusing the state of abusing power and wasting taxpayer money to seize and kill Peanut, all based on a few anonymous claims.

Mark Longo and his wife, Daniellawere on “TMZ Live” Friday and shared their outrage over what they call a grave injustice … and it got emotional.

Mark tells us that officers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation showed up at his doorstep on Wednesday with a search warrant signed by four state agencies and a judge… and treated him like a criminal while they searched his house would have searched for Peanut.

He says the police didn't even allow him to use his own toilet unaccompanied during the raid… and he couldn't feed his horses… not until the authorities left with Peanut.

Mark says his wife was questioned about her immigration status during the search…and one of their pet raccoons was also taken. Both Peanut and the raccoon have since been euthanized due to rabies testing.

Honestly, it all sounds ridiculous… and Mark says Peanut lived happily with him for seven years, spreading joy across the internet with funny and wholesome videos, and becoming his best friend in the process.

Although it's technically illegal to keep a squirrel as a pet in New York, Mark says he hasn't hidden Peanut – the squirrel has 532,000 followers on IG and over 1,400 posts – and he says anonymous complaints about Peanut have been made to state authorities led to obtaining a search warrant to tear the animal from its home and kill it.

Fighting back tears, Mark tells us with a clear sense of anger in his voice that it's unimaginable that the state would be so concerned about a pet squirrel that he says hasn't harmed anyone… . and he thinks it's an example of everything that's broken in our country.

Mark says Peanut was the foundation of his family and his nonprofit animal rescue. P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary …and he doesn't know how he'll carry on without his squirrel friend.