The caretaker of a rescued squirrel who has attracted half a million fans on Instagram says he is fighting to save his beloved pet for a second time after the rodent was seized by New York authorities seeking euthanasia . Mark Longo says he rescued the squirrel named Peanut (also spelled P’Nut or PNUT) as a kit seven years ago after his mother was hit and killed by a car. He is “my best friend” and “the center of my world,” Longo wrote on Instagram, adding, “To the group of people who called DEC, there is a special place in hell for you.” He tells CNN that Department of Environmental Conservation officials stopped by his Elmira home on Wednesday and took Peanut away.

They had no warrants and treated Longo “like I was a drug dealer,” the 34-year-old told CNN. The DEC confirmed that agents seized Peanut along with a raccoon named Fred, who Longo took in a few months ago, according to CNN and the New York Post. The agency said it had received “multiple reports from the public regarding the potentially unsafe housing of wild animals that could transmit rabies and the illegal keeping of wild animals as pets.” It did not say what would happen to the animals, but Longo claims authorities plan to euthanize both. As of Thursday, he wasn’t even sure Peanut was still alive. More than 25,000 people have signed a petition demanding the squirrel be returned home.

Longo says he knows it’s against state law to own a wild animal without a permit, but he’s working to get Peanut certified as an educational animal. “If we don’t follow the rules, guide us in the right direction to follow the rules,” he told CNN. He says he released Peanut back into the wild after several months of care, but the squirrel returned with an injury, prompting him to decide the rodent didn’t have the skills to survive on its own. He moved from Connecticut to New York last year to open an animal shelter, P’Nuts Freedom Farm, which now cares for 350 animals. Because “we rely heavily on PNUT and its Internet family for donations from fathers,” the rescue’s future is now in limbo, he says. After. (More New York stories.)