Town Of Islip Pushes For Charges Against Sloth Encounters Owner
Town of Islip attorneys have asked a Suffolk County judge to hold the owner of Sloth Encounters in criminal contempt of court for allegedly continuing to exhibit sloths and other wild animals in violation of prior rulings.
The action includes a plea to the court to authorize the seizure of Larry Wallach’s animals, demand the surrender of profits from the purportedly illegal exhibition, and impose fines or imprisonment should he persist in flouting the law. The town’s move comes less than a month after HSUS unveiled the outcomes of an undercover investigation conducted at Wallach’s Sloth Encounters in Hauppauge, which revealed footage of sloths being mistreated by staff, including instances of staff physically abusing sloths, keeping them in stressful and crowded conditions, capturing sloths engaged in violent confrontations, and a wounded sloth struggling when Wallach allegedly handled its head and neck roughly.
“The Town of Islip has taken concrete actions to protect sloths and other wild animals held captive at Larry Wallach’s Sloth Encounters from further abuse,” Brian Shapiro, the New York state director for the Humane Society of the United States, said. “Our undercover investigation at this horrific operation revealed one of the worst cases of sloth abuse we’ve seen. We respectfully urge the court to swiftly ensure that these animals are finally out of the hands of their abuser. Wallach should never be allowed near another animal again.”
The HSUS has previously reported the findings of its investigation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and asked the agency to revoke Wallach’s Animal Welfare Act license while initiating an investigation into Sloth Encounters for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
For his part, Wallach told the Press he had no knowledge of the attorneys filing this motion and that Sloth Encounters operates perfectly legally.
“All our papers, all of our permits are in with the town,” Wallach said. “That’s the truth. The animal rights people don’t want this place to be [here], but it’s not breaking any laws. These are legal pets in New York State. The only people who don’t like it are the animal rights people. Everything they say about me so far has been a lie. And I don’t know what to say anymore.”
