Ostrich, endangered salamander, giant African snail among 100 animals seized from house

NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. — Officials confiscated hundreds of animals including some that were endangered and exotic from a man’s home in Long Island, New York.

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The Nassau County SPCA confiscated hundreds of animals from a man’s house, according to WNBC.

Matt Roper, director of law enforcement for the Nassau County SPCA, declined to identify the man because of the ongoing investigation, The Associated Press reported. The suspect also lives at home with his parents.

The animals were found after someone reported seeing the man exhibiting the animals at a festival last October, WABC reported. The complaint was issued by Humane Long Island with the Nassau County SPCA.

The animals were discovered by state and local authorities Tuesday, the AP reported. They were found in the basement and backyard shed in North Bellmore, which is about 15 miles east of New York City.

“He had a lot of animals that have no business being in suburbia, period. Especially not in someone’s shed or their basement,” said John Di Leonardo, the group’s president and executive director of the advocacy group Humane Long Island, according to the AP.

Humane Long Island took custody of multiple animals including a South American ostrich named Eddy, the AP reported. Other animals included a giant African snail, a North American opossum, a tortoise, two prairie dogs and large monitor lizards were among the animals taken away, along with dozens of chickens, domestic ducks and geese, according to WNBC.

“I think that this is what happens when people don’t speak up. it ends up being a hoarding situation,” Di Leonardo said, according to the news outlet. “Hoarding giant birds, prairie dogs, and endangered species in a cramped basement or backyard shed is cruel, and keeping them in cages next to their natural predators can cause them extreme stress. Simply speaking, wild animals are not pets.”

Most of the animals will be heading to sanctuaries, WNBC reported.

The man is facing 30 violations and has been fined thousands of dollars by the SPCA, according to the news outlet.

“He was very cooperative. He was scared. I believe he was way in over his head. The animals were cared for. They were fed. It wasn’t the cleanest situation,” Roper said according to the AP.

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