Introducing the new P'nut.
Honey, 27 year old black bear and star attraction A state-licensed animal shelter on Long Island was euthanized last month after animal rights groups alleged years of severe neglect and lack of medical care at the taxpayer-funded facility.
The doomed beast has broken and rotten teeth, chronic urinary tract infections, and is frequently rocked back and forth in its enclosure at the Holtsville Ecology Center, according to Humane Long Island. He accused staff of ignoring his concerns.
According to center officials, Honey suffered a stroke on November 22nd and lost the use of the back of her body, leading to a bitter end. Asian black bears can live into their 30s in captivity.
Her death came a month after the notorious state Department of Conservation captured Peanut the squirrel from his upstate home and executed him.
Meanwhile, the 3.5-acre Long Island Refuge is licensed by the DEC and, oddly enough, operated by the City of Brookhaven's Highway Department.
It is open to the public and is home to more than 100 sick and injured animals that cannot survive in the wild.
But former employees Kaylee Kunman and Kathleen Connelly told the Post that few of the employees in charge have received proper veterinary training.
Honey, along with her brother Pooh, was donated to the center as a baby by Larry Wallach, a wildlife exhibitor who was forced to close his sloth encounter shop in the late 1990s.
Kunman said that towards the end of Honey's life, he will have a hard time climbing the hills inside his enclosure to be kept in a concrete cage at night.
Humane LI claimed the pen was barely large enough for Honey to turn around.
“They will harass her until she climbs the hill,” Kunman claimed. “They screamed and ran along the outside of the enclosure. Sometimes, if she really didn't go, they sprayed her with water with a hose.”
Bear expert Steve “The Bear Whisperer” Searles said Honey's tremors are common in stressed bears in captivity.
“These are all chronic conditions that come not only from well-meaning people at zoos, but also from less thoughtful people at zoos,” he said.
The center opened in 1974 on a former landfill and is beloved by families with young children who come to see everything from goats and ducks to bison, wolves, mustangs, lynx and other animals.
At least eight former employees claim that Honey was not the only victim at the center. Several people were left without proper treatment and had to die or be euthanized, including at least five since July, Humanitarian LI claimed. did.
Among them is Wilbur, a large farm pig. Lily, the lionhead rabbit. Patrick is a mallard with mobility issues. and Clarice, a white-tailed deer with kidney failure.
Former employees claimed that one of the longtime employees, who had no veterinary training, was seen cutting sick animals, including ducks with infected feet and goats with abscesses.
Officials said the animals were often kept in unheated and unwashed cages overnight and even on winter weekends.
The whistleblowers also alleged that basic care, including hooves and horn care, was so inadequate that one goat grew a horn on the side of its head, the whistleblowers allege for Humane Long Island.
“We have already secured a reliable sanctuary for all the animals suffering in zoos that have been turned into garbage,” he said as hundreds of people flooded into the town center on Friday night. said John DiLeonardo, president of Humane Long Island, who led the protesters. Annual tree lighting. “All that is needed is for the Highways Authority to acknowledge that they should focus on repairing the potholes rather than locking up the animals.”
Brookhaven Expressway Superintendent Dan Losquadro vehemently denied the allegations, insisting the animals were under the care of licensed veterinarians, but that medical professionals are not allowed to handle large mammals like Honey. Eligibility could not immediately be confirmed.
“This is not something the town is hiding or trying to cover up,” he told the Post. “It’s just frustrating when someone spreads obvious falsehoods that are presented as fact.”
He called the allegations “insulting” and said he “categorically denies” that staff sprayed Ms Honey with a hose to remove her.
“I think the facility's track record and the work we've done and the feedback I've gotten have all been very positive,” he said, accusing DiLeonardo of “self-appointing himself as the sole arbiter of truth.” did.
DEC said it was not aware of the complaint but would investigate. The center passed a surprise inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August.
