News of Peanut’s death came as a petition calling for his return had garnered more than 30,000 signatures by Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, Mr Longo said he was raising money to pay for legal action against the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The GoFundMe he set up has raised about $13,500 (£10,400).
He said in a Friday morning post that the ordeal had become a “horrible nightmare.”
After Peanut’s death, Mr. Longo posted DEC’s phone number online and urged supporters to call the organization and “express your feelings.”
“We will not let this be Pnut’s last memory,” he wrote.
In a separate Instagram Story, he thanked Peanut’s fans for the “love and support” his family has received and asked for donations to help the other animals he keeps on his “freedom farm.”
A DEC statement said the investigation began after receiving “multiple reports from the public of potentially unsafe housing of wild animals that could carry rabies and of wild animals being kept as illegal pets.”
Mr. Longo ate peanuts seven years ago after his mother found a baby squirrel that had been hit by a car.
He said he cared for Peanut until he was strong enough to be released, but the next morning he found the animal back on his front porch with “a chunk of its tail missing.”
Peanut’s Instagram account has since amassed more than 500,000 followers.
The account contains videos of Peanut performing skits with Mr. Longo, sometimes wearing a hat, often climbing on top of him or receiving hugs, and regularly eating waffles.
