The caretaker of P'Nut the squirrel fears the animal has been decapitated by DEC as he plans a funeral and trial

An upstate New York man fears his pet squirrel has been decapitated after state officials confiscated the rodent from his home – as a funeral is scheduled for the internet-famous animal.

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

“I hope he can be given a proper burial,” Longo told The Post of P'Nut's final rites, which will take place at a fully functioning human funeral home that is providing its space free of charge.

“But seven days later the body was not returned. There are no rabies test results available.”

The DEC claimed it was forced to conduct rabies tests on P'Nut and Longo's pet raccoon named Fred – and that testing required a sample from the subject's brain.

Longo shudders to think about it and is ready to sue him.

“This is much bigger than a squirrel and a raccoon. “This is about government over-engineering,” he said. “We want justice for what happened at 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, the couple said.

During those years, the squirrel amassed a following on social media and inspired the Longos to relocate from Connecticut and open a 350-acre animal shelter upstate in Pine City.

But everything came crashing down in October when the DEC responded to an anonymous complaint that the Longos had been harboring P'Nut and Fred in their home, and after tearing the house apart, they stayed with the animals. P'Nut is said to have bitten one of the agents on the hand during the operation, prompting the DEC to euthanize both animals.

And Longo hasn't heard a word from the DEC since.

“I found out from a news station that my animals were murdered,” Longo said. “As a citizen of New York State, my animals were killed 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 needs to be held accountable for the massive overreach of power,” he added.

Longo has already hired an attorney, Nora Marino, and hopes anyone who has had a similar situation with the DEC will contact him as they prepare their lawsuit.

“If it happened to you — if you know someone it happened to — please come forward, we need to call for action,” Longo said.

“Now what’s stopping the average person from calling their neighbor and complaining about them? If you complain enough, can you get a search warrant? When does it end?”

For the next few days, however, Longo's only focus is on putting his furry friends to rest. A service may be held at a funeral home in Elmira on 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 was going on in our government,” he said.

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