Sloth Encounters suspected of mistreating animals, Humane Society reports
The Humane Society of the United States has submitted evidence to federal animal authorities of what the group says is suspected mistreatment of sloths and other animals at Sloth Encounters, a Hauppauge business that sells “educational experiences” to the public.
The animal welfare organization sent an undercover investigator to Sloth Encounters in November to take photographs and video. The organization said the images showed staff breaking up a fight between two sloths by hitting one in the face with a water bottle. Images also showed a metal bucket for capybaras, semiaquatic South American rodents, that held excrement but no water, the Humane Society said. Such treatment could constitute violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the organization said.
The act sets standards for humane care for certain animals that are exhibited to the public, sold as pets or commercially transported.
“We urge the public to recognize animal exploitation when they see it,” said Brian Shapiro, Humane Society’s New York State director. Shapiro called Larry Wallach, the federally licensed animal exhibitor who owns Sloth Encounters, a “serial offender” of the Welfare Act’s regulations.
The Humane Society outlined its allegations in a 10-page December letter to Kevin Shea, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Apparent violations include housing incompatible sloths together; managing sloths with physical abuse; public handling of sloths, capybaras and a kangaroo in a manner that risks harm to animals or the public; and failing to provide suitable housing for those animals as well as a cockatoo, the letter alleged.
In an email, USDA spokesman Andre Bell said agency officials were “reviewing the concern(s).” Review typically takes 30 to 60 days, he said.
In a phone interview, Wallach said he had fired the staffer after he saw footage of the water bottle incident. “She did everything right but use the water bottle,” he said. “Even me, I look at the water bottle, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that was terrible.’” The staffer should instead have turned on the vacuum cleaner, he said, which would have caused the animals to separate “instantly.”
Wallach said his treatment of his animals was good. The capybaras are soon being moved to Florida and the kangaroo to a zoo in Ohio, he said.
Caroline Smith, spokeswoman for Islip town where Sloth Encounters is located, said in a news release emailed to news organizations Tuesday that “We share in the outrage of the community regarding the inhumane treatment of these animals, and remain steadfast in our commitment to seeking the enforcement of any and all penalties permissible under the Town’s jurisdiction.”
USDA inspection reports list 20 noncritical and three critical “noncompliant items” in inspections of Wallach’s facilities from 2014 through last year.
Two of the critical items from an August 2022 report stemmed from a sloth that bit or scratched a member of the public at Sloth Encounters that year. According to that report, Wallach told inspectors that no incident had taken place, even though he’d signed a Suffolk County Department of Health inspection acknowledging it.
Wallach also told USDA inspectors that members of the public fed animals using tongs, but posted photographs of people feeding by hand. Sufficient “distance and/or barriers” between animals and the public should be in place to ensure safety, the report said.
Islip Town alleged in a 2022 lawsuit that Wallach’s business was illegal. In July 2023, a Suffolk County Supreme Court judge found Wallach in civil contempt and ordered him to stop operating as a pet store or petting zoo until he obtained necessary town approvals or pay a fine of $250 per day. Town spokeswoman Caroline Smith said Wednesday the fines were still being incurred.
With Shari Einhorn
