A Long Island animal rescue shelter is calling the recent seizure of a wallaby on Coney Island “the tip of the iceberg” and is building a marsupial rescue center in anticipation of more such exotic animals.
“We think there’s going to be an influx of wallabies coming down the road so we’re going to build a nice enclosure for this one and let it live with us,” Lori Ketchum, director of the Save The Animal Rescue Foundation, told Gothamist in an interview.
This comes after community groups and animal rights advocates complained about people selling encounters with exotic animals in Washington Square Park and Coney Island’s boardwalk. Last week, NYPD’s Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad confiscated the wallaby, along with a python and a caiman, issuing two tickets.
The NYPD declined to identify the people ticketed for owning the animals.
“You need a USDA exhibitor permit to do that and you need to not be living in New York City,” Ketchum said.
Coney Island residents said people selling encounters with exotic animals have proliferated the boardwalk recently.
“If 30 guys show up with a snake, it’s not so much interesting as it is noxious or possibly dangerous,” said Daniel Murphy, executive director of Alliance for Coney Island. “It’s not like they’re spread out over a mile, they’re all within about the same city block along the boardwalk.”
Ketchum said the Save The Animals Rescue Foundation is planning to build an indoor-outdoor enclosure on its two-acre facility to accommodate more wallabies.
“I’m just assuming that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Ketchum said. “You can buy these online if you’re willing to go down to Florida or over to Pennsylvania, you can get pretty much anything.”
Marsupials are among the many animals not allowed to be owned in New York City, but are legally owned in the state and in neighboring states. Other exotic creatures include hyenas, vipers, walruses and elephants.
A bill introduced in April by Long Island…
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