Long Island’s largest and most controversial zoo is closing after local officials unanimously agreed to strip its funding and send its allegedly horrifically abused animals to rescue facilities.
Brookhaven’s Town Board passed its 2026 budget Thursday night in a 7-0 vote — and the move cemented the shutdown of the Holtsville Ecology Center’s zoo in a knockout blow to residents fighting to keep the animal sanctuary open and funded by taxpayers.
“There needs to be far more in terms of an investment and resources into even attempting to run this operation properly,” explained Town Supervisor Dan Panico at Thursday’s board meeting.
The board’s new $367 million budget wiped out the more than $2 million a year it spent to cover operating costs at the animal preserve, which was run by the town’s Highway Department.
Town officials argued the zoo fell outside the basic services that local government should be providing.
The free-to-access zoo, which operated at a yearly loss, currently houses roughly 100 animals, a majority of which were rescued or donated and can’t survive in the wild on their own anymore.
They range from bald eagles and bobcats to buffalo and farm livestock that are now set to be relocated to various sanctuaries that officials said can handle their needs.
But the zoo’s alleged conditions have fueled bitter online attacks and board-meeting battles.
The accusations include letting a mountain lion drown, cutting staph infections out of Larry the rooster’s feet without anesthesia, ignoring Honey the bear’s rotting teeth as she wasted away in a tiny enclosure while also spraying her with a high-powered hose, and failing to treat Nessy the Peking duck’s lead poisoning, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The head caretaker of the center, Kristin Layer, previously accused Panico and other “Crookhaven” officials of closing the zoo over “politics” and in order to reallocate funds to give themselves a raise.
“The REAL REASON for the ‘closure’ is because of ‘budget cuts’ YET our town [leaders] gave themselves over $30,000 raises this year INCLUDING [Town Supervisor] Dan Panico,” Layer said in an Instagram rant in September.
The 2026 budget boosts the local elected representatives’ salaries by roughly $30,000 total — or raises of about $3,000 to $4,000 per official.
But Panico and other town officials have flatly denied Layer’s claims of any salary-bump trade-off, saying the abuse allegations involving the zoo, combined with its soaring costs, limited staff and decades-old infrastructure, made it impossible to justify keeping the operation running.
Jennifer Ramos, who lives near the zoo, said she was “devastated” by the facility’s closing and doesn’t mind her tax dollars being spent on the sanctuary.
“It’s very sad, I take my grandkids here all of the time, and they love it,” she said.
“But if they’re mistreating the animals, they have got to go,” Ramos said. “The whole point of that place is to take care of animals that can’t take care of themselves.”
