Roadside Zoos & Aquariums

Animals in roadside zoos and aquariums are forced to spend their lives behind bars or in cramped tanks just to entertain the public. This deprivation—combined with relentless boredom, loneliness, and sometimes even abuse from the people who are supposed to be caring for them—causes many captive animals to lose their minds and others to die prematurely. 

Animal welfare

Giraffes die prematurely at LI Game Farm & White Post Farm

In 2024, a USDA report revealed that the Long Island Game Farm critically violated the federal Animal Welfare Act by failing to provide a 3-year-old giraffe named Bobo with adequate heat and also violated the Act by failing to provide the 3-year-old giraffe with proper nutrition in the months leading up to his premature death from heart failure. Bobo had been suffering from a heavy parasite load and poor body condition for at least 2 months prior to his death. Bobo‘s necropsy showed “serous atrophy of fat” also known as “starvation marrow”associated with “malnutrition” and lack of adequate heat. In March, these enforcement actions were escalated with the USDA officially warning the Long Island Game Farm that “[i]f APHIS obtains evidence of any future violations of these federal regulations, APHIS may pursue civil penalties, criminal prosecution, or other sanctions for this alleged violation(s) and for any future violation(s).”

In 2023, the USDA cited White Post Farm aka Ronald Brigati for critically violating the Animal Welfare Act in the negligent death of an 8-year-old female giraffe who became tangled in rope fencing. According to the attending Veterinarian the probable cause of death was capture myopathy secondary to stress from the neck injury. Later that year, the USDA escalated this violation to an official warning

Zoochosis

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Tearing families apart

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Solitary confinement

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Animals fight back

 

Whipped, chained, and imprisoned—animals abused for human entertainment are fighting for their safety, their sanity, and, often, their very lives; so when they fight back, it can be deadly. Read on to learn about just a few instances of animals fighting back after being exploited on Long Island.

Chimpanzee escapes, Killed with fencepost & 12-gauge Shotgun at Long Island game Farm

In 1996, Barney, a 19-year-old chimpanzee, escaped from his cage at the Long Island Game Farm after workers left one of the three locks unfastened. Barney grabbed a child’s leg, and a zoo worker hit him over the head with a fence post. The zoo’s owner tried to lure him with milk and cookies, but Barney bit him on the head and arms, leaving a 3-inch laceration. The chimpanzee scratched two teachers and was eventually shot and killed with a 12-gauge shotgun. There were 500 to 600 children in the Manorville menagerie at the time. 

Tiger Escapes cole bros. circus, causes 5-car pileup on Jackie Robinson Parkway

On July 31, 2004, a 450-pound white tiger bolted from Cole Bros. Circus while being transferred from one cage to another near the Forest Park band shell in Queens. Dozens of police officers with machine guns and tranquilizer darts pursued the animal for 30 minutes as he prowled through a park crowded with picnickers, scattering screaming people and causing a five-car pileup. The trainer recaptured him. Two women filed a $30 million lawsuit after sustaining spinal fractures and other injuries in the multicar crash on the Jackie Robinson Parkway.

Cole Bros. apparently never learned from this instance, resulting in Humane Long Island filing a formal complaint to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) alleging the circus’ violation of New York state permits pertaining to elephants mandating that “Animals must be exhibited, held, transported, and housed in a manner which prevents direct contact with the public at all times.” The New York State DEC reported “The department followed up on [Humane Long Island’s] complaint and as a result tickets were issued for violation of state law. The animals in question were transported out of the state the same day.”

 

Sloth bites child at Sloth Encounters New York

Sloth Encounters‘ owner Larry Wallach has been cited for more than sixty violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including critical violations for lying to federal inspectors about an incident involving the bite of a child at his now-shuttered Hauppauge facility. According to Suffolk County health officials, had the incident involved one of the other more recently acquired sloths, euthanasia and rabies testing of the sloth would likely have been required for public health purposes. Kangaroos—who are also exhibited by Wallach—cannot be vaccinated against rabies, and without prompt treatment, rabies is almost always fatal in humans. 

In 2024, Larry Wallach had his Islip storefront shut down by the Supreme Court, and the USDA failed to renew his federal license; however, Wallach continues to exhibit without a license and apparently without insurance in violation of federal law. 

Dangerous incidents involving animals exhibited at Long Island fairs

During a performance at the Saratoga County Fair in 2017, a young grizzly bear being exhibited by A Grizzly Experience mauled a handler in front of a live audience. The handler held his face as blood streamed from it and walked the braying bear back to the trailer. The remainder of the show was canceled. Don Lehman, a witness, noted, “As I watched the show before the injury, I thought of all the things that could go wrong when you take a 500-pound omnivore and treat it like a circus freak. We saw one of them.”

In January 2013, a male bear named Boo Boo escaped from an enclosure at A Grizzly Experience. He was captured three days later several blocks from the facility. Just four months later, Osborn brought Boo Boo to the Brookhaven Fair along with two more bears named Yogi and Tonk.

The ‘Conservation’ Con

Teaching children the wrong lessons

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Diverting donations from real conservation efforts

Studies show these interactions with visitors undermine legitimate conservation efforts by misleading people into thinking that wild populations are not imperiled, making them less likely to donate to conservation.

A Humane Long Island investigation has revealed in complaints with the IRS and Attorney General that the Foundation for Wildlife Sustainability, Inc., a non-profit whose mission is—in part—to support the work of the Long Island Game Farm, is engaged in an apparent gross misuse of funds. Not only are there are self-dealing, private inurement and excess benefit issues as the insiders of the Foundation are the same as the for-profit Game Farm directors, but the intent of the Foundation’s funding is not made in furtherance of its mission for the public benefit but to underwrite the infrastructure and capital needs of the Game Farm—a commercial enterprise.

What humane long island is doing to help

Speaking out in the press

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Supporting Reputable animal sanctuaries & Preserves

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Fighting Sloth Encounters

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Retiring animals to sanctuaries

Humane long island worked amicably with party pets of New York to shut down its malverne petting zoo

When the public began moving away from animal encounters following the Covid-19 pandemic, Party Pets owner Andre Ricaud contacted Humane Long Island to retire 40 ducks and chickens, 3 sheeps, 1 turkey, and 1 goose to reputable sanctuaries.

“They’ve been placed in great homes,” Ricaud said, “and I know they’re not going to be eaten or destroyed. I’m happy that they have their forever homes.”