Most Holtsville Ecology Center Zoo animals committed to transfers, town says

According to Brookhaven’s Highway Department, “80 percent of the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center’s animals are committed to wonderful places, the other 20 percent should be committed within a month or two and the highway department is committed to sending them to safe places.”   

There are 130 animals currently awaiting transfers.

Officials have said zoo operations are funded through March until relocations occur. The Brookhaven Town Board voted unanimously to pass the $367.2 million budget on Nov 20, effectively requiring its closure. The closure was reported to save taxpayers about $2 million.

When asked for the names of sanctuaries some of the animals would be headed to, the town’s highway department, which operates the Ecology Center, said, “Right now, we’d rather not release any names of the locations until the animals are officially transferred.”

The town reportedly reached out to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and several animal sanctuaries to explore transfers. In an earlier email, the New York State DEC said its Wildlife Special License Unit had been in correspondence with the town of Brookhaven since late October and provided a list of 12 currently licensed facilities that might be able to take some of the species and help ensure proper care.

“I believe the transfers should begin the beginning of March,” Brookhaven Town supervisor Dan Panico said. “The top priority is ensuring their new home is suitable. The facility is funded through March 31.”

The upcoming transfers come after the town’s closing announcement due to budgetary reasons. But allegations of abuse and neglect in 2024 at the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Site’s zoo by former employees and animal welfare groups came to light after Honey the bear was euthanized, and other alleged neglect incidents. Subsequent demonstrations demanding accountability and the transfer of the animals pushed the issue. Supporters of the center’s continuance and opponents attended board meetings.

John Di Leonardo, president and executive director Humane Long Island, and Jessica Chiarello, senior animal care technician, licensed wildlife rehabilitator and hospital supervisor at the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center who worked with Di Leonardo collecting evidence via interviews with several former employees in 2024 as well as photos that alleged neglect in a 120-page document presented to the town several times, blew the whistle initially on the issues. Both met with town officials on several occasions, offering to place the animals and attended many town board meetings.

Di Leonardo sent an email to supervisor Panico and Brookhaven town board members on Nov. 6 offering to assist with the transfers after the town board vote to close the ecology center.

“We prioritize placement at reputable, accredited sanctuaries—including local, visitor-friendly options like Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays and Critterville Farm Sanctuary —that specialize in meeting the individual needs of each animal,” he wrote. “We are ready to begin immediately.”

Chiarello, from Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, said they had received no update from the Town of Brookhaven on animal transfers.

Di Leonardo said they haven’t heard back from the town after several emails. 

Di Leonardo provided a list of 21 reputable rescues and sanctuaries willing and able to assist with rehoming the animals.

The Long Island Advance contacted each organization to ask whether they had received any animals. As of Feb. 10, none of the 17 organizations that responded had received any, and numerous organizations said they hadn’t been in contact with the Town of Brookhaven.

Claire DiMenna, founder and CEO of Critterville Farm Sanctuary in Riverhead, which can take in animals commonly found on farms, such as roosters, turkeys, and cows, said she had been in contact with those managing the placement of animals and was confirming which species they could accept as of early February.

While many of the organizations Di Leonardo suggested to the town are based on Long Island, others operate across the country, though some, like Hopalong Hollow Rabbit Rescue in Connecticut and Wolf Haven International in Washington, said they haven’t even heard of the Holtsville Ecology Center case.

Era MacDonald, the executive director of the Merrymac Farm Sanctuary in Vermont, said their organization reached out to the Town of Brookhaven months ago, but hasn’t heard back as of late January.

MacDonald said her sanctuary has taken in animals from Long Island in various cases and works with other Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries-accredited facilities to accept animals. As a member of the Farm Sanctuary Network, which helps reallocate animals facing mistreatment, usually from industrial farms, MacDonald said her organization knows a network of sanctuaries that can provide support if needed.

“We just took in 10 animals from a local seizure case… in Vermont,” MacDonald said. “All of these cases… always take planning and require quarantining and testing and all of those things, so it’s quite the process.”