Inside the alleged Long Island sanctuary-turned-torture chamber for animals: ‘Severe medical neglect’

0
3

Animal lovers are pushing to close a taxpayer-funded Long Island “roadside’’ sanctuary plagued by sickening allegations of neglect, abuse and “preventable” deaths, a new petition shows.
Reported incidents at the Holtsville Ecology Center — operated on a former landfill by the town of Brookhaven’s Highway Department — include cutting staph infections out of Larry the rooster’s feet without anesthesia, ignoring Honey the bear’s rotting teeth as he wasted away in a tiny enclosure and not treating Nessy the Peking duck’s lead poisoning, according to the online petition launched earlier this month and sources familiar with the matter.
8 Honey the black bear, the star attraction at an ecology center on Long Island, was horribly abused and neglected until her dying day, activists say. FaceBook Holtsville Ecology Site & Animal Preserve
“We’re looking at severe medical neglect,” said John Di Leonardo, director of Humane Long Island, to The Post.
“It’s literally a highway department-run zoo on top of a garbage dump. There’s no way to fix this place. … “I think it’s just ego and tradition that’s keeping this thing alive.”
Roughly a dozen animals have died in captivity at the so-called animal sanctuary in just the past year, according to Di Leonardo.
That’s including Larry and Honey — the sanctuary’s star attraction who staffers claimed was “dancing” when she was really swaying back and forth in stress from her cramped quarters, advocates say.
Other animals who also perished there were: Snickers the goat, who had a “large abscess on his neck which was left untreated for weeks”; Melina the skunk, who was diagnosed with lung cancer and “not given pain medication or put on any treatment plan for her cancer diagnosis”; Joey the American crow, who died from West Nile virus, “which is prevented by regular vaccination schedules,” and at least six tropical parakeets found dead from frigid temperatures, according to a 43-page dossier of complaints from former employees and shared with The Post.
8 The Holtsville Ecology Center in Brookhaven has been a torture chamber for animals, according to advocates. FaceBook Holtsville Ecology Site & Animal Preserve
Last month, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico asked the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to investigate the neglect allegations.
The case has been assigned to the DA’s Biological, Environment, and Animal Safety Team unit, a rep for the DA’s office told The Post.
The refuge, which is licensed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, will be under “a lot more oversight now” by the town’s board members and staff, Panico said last month — but activists including Di Leonardo say the only solution is to shutter the site entirely.
“These animals are … dying right now, and they cannot wait until there’s a full fledged investigation when we know that they’re suffering, when we have the proof,” he said.
The DEC is conducting its own investigation, The Post previously reported. The agency said it interviewed former and current workers who shared concerns over the animals’ treatment and “takes concerns and the allegations raised by Humane Long Island, along with former employees of the Holtsville Wildlife and Ecology Center, extremely seriously.”
8 An injured parakeet died in March “because they did not receive necessary medical treatment,” activists told The Post. Obtained by NY Post
Di Leonardo said Larry the rooster died after caretakers cut his and other roosters’ spurs during a snowstorm in 2023 without any pain medication at the sanctuary, which is open to the public.
After their operation, the birds were placed back outside during the storm, and Larry was later found dead, frozen, in his de facto shelter — a plastic dog crate with straw — with blood pooled around him, the animal activist said.
“We have pictures of one of the preserve workers actually performing unlicensed and unauthorized surgeries on the birds,” Di Leonardo said.
Honey’s death was preceded by years of alleged neglect, Di Leonardo said. She reportedly suffered from broken and rotted teeth and chronic urinary tract infections and could frequently be seen bizarrely swaying back and forth in her enclosure.
“Honey’s back ‘off-exhibit’ enclosure was tragically too small,” former employees alleged in their document.
8 Honey’s neglect included rotting teeth, Di Leonardo said. Obtained by NY Post
“It gave her just barely enough room to turn around in, and zero stimulation when she’s locked back there overnight and for an entire 48 hours over the weekends during winter months when the park is closed to the public.
“When asked about the stereotypical behavior, [staff] lie to the public, passing off the behavior as Honey being ‘territorial,’ or even that she’s ‘dancing,’ ” the document added.
Di Leonardo told The Post that the town of Brookhaven was alerted to Honey’s maladies three months before her death and that staffers had been complaining to town officials about horrific conditions at least five years before.
8 Protesters from Humane Long Island demonstrate outside the Holtsville Ecology Center during its annual Christmas tree lighting last month. Kathianne Boniello
The activist said he first became aware of the zoo’s alleged misconduct after Nessy was secretly taken to a vet by a zoo staffer.
“And then three weeks later, Honey was dead, and several other animals also died in just that very short span of time,” he said.
Nessy, who was diagnosed with lead poisoning, a fractured wing, parasites, a shoulder infection and staph infections on both feet last winter, was demanded to be returned by ecology center management, Di Leonardo said.
8 Snickers the goat died last January after suffering from a “large abscess on his neck which was left untreated for weeks,” according to activists. Obtained by NY Post
8 Animal feed is often moldy and outdated at the center, whistleblowers said. Obtained by NY Post
“Nessy needs multiple more rounds of medication to rid her body of lead and long-term pain management/water therapy …. which she is not getting at the facility,” activists wrote in their dossier. “Instead, she was being kept in isolation in the Animal Building getting worse.”
Animal feed is often moldy and outdated, too, the whistleblowers said.
Some animals – including “Holtsville Hal” the groundhog – are believed to live out of enclosures where there has been no food or water for nearly a year, sources said.
The 3.5-acre refuge also does not have a veterinarian on staff, according to the Town of Brookhaven website – contrary to guidance from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, which advises vet and surgical care “must be available and provided for all animals in zoos and aquariums,” advocates said.
The petition to close the free animal preserve has amassed more than 900 signatures to date.
8 Ten domestic rabbits at the facility are left in unwinterized cages without access to grass, according to whistleblowers. Obtained by NY Post
“Despite mounting evidence of neglect, preventable deaths, and the availability of safe alternatives, the Holtsville Ecology Center refuses to release the animals, choosing instead to prolong their suffering,” the petition reads.
Aside from closing the 50-year-old refuge, activists are calling on the Town of Brookhaven to release all the animals to sanctuaries already secured by Humane Long Island and to repurpose the ecology center for “humane, sustainable, and community-driven initiatives that align with modern values and ethics.”
Di Leonardo said Humane Long Island is considering further legal action against the town amid the pending investigations.

webintern@dakdan.com