Peanut The Squirrel Owner Mark Longo Denies Using Tragedy to Promote Porn

Mark Longo says he's not using the tragedy and controversy surrounding Peanut The Squirrel to drum up subscriptions for his porn page.

Peanut's owner joined us on "TMZ Live" Monday and told us he thinks his OnlyFans is the reason his farm got raided in the first place.

Mark says authorities asked him if he had any cameras in his house ... a strange question to ask if they were there only because he broke the law by harboring 2 undomesticated animals in Peanut and Fred the Racoon.

Instead, Mark believes someone who had an issue with him shooting porn with his wife, and separately babysitting some of their neighbor's kids, complained about him to authorities ... leading to last week's raid.

Mark's theory ... officials used the animals as a way to get into his home and dig up dirt on his porn biz.

Peanut was seized in the raid and euthanized as part of a test for rabies -- even though there was proof Peanut didn't have rabies -- and the case is getting a lot of attention ... and so is Mark, who is big on OF.

But Mark says folks who think he's trying to capitalize on the moment and promote his OF have him all wrong ... ditto for people who think the kids he babysits were somehow involved in his side hustle.

Mark says everything he did with his wife on camera is perfectly legal -- and he's right -- and he thinks it's a shame Peanut had to die because his porn isn't everyone's cup of tea.

One more thing ... Mark tells us the search warrant says there was probable cause to believe he committed a crime ... but he wasn't arrested or issued a citation for anything.