Suffolk County DA to probe Honey the bear abuse allegations at LI animal refuge

The Suffolk County District Lawyer’s workplace is probing allegations of animal neglect on the taxpayer-funded Holtsville Ecology Heart in Lengthy Island, following The Submit’s reporting on claims its workers mistreated a 27-year-old bear named Honey earlier than she was euthanized final month. 

DA Ray Tierney mentioned his workplace is investigating allegations introduced by former workers and advocates towards the state-licensed animal refuge within the City of Brookhaven, together with that a number of creatures there have died from a scarcity of correct veterinary care, following a request for an unbiased probe by Supervisor Dan Panico.

“We had been requested to look into it so we are going to,” Tierney informed The Submit, declining to debate particulars.

The refuge, which is licensed by the state Division of Environmental Conservation and curiously run by the city’s Freeway Division, might be underneath “much more oversight now” by the city board members and the supervisor’s workers, Panico vowed.

The DEC is conducting its personal investigation and beforehand mentioned it has interviewed among the eight former employees who shared their issues over the animals’ remedy with the advocacy group Humane Lengthy Island.

The three.5-acre refuge, which opened in 1974 on prime of a former landfill and is free to the general public, has roughly 100 sick or injured animals in its care that can’t survive within the wild. 

The middle got here underneath fireplace in latest weeks after Honey, its star attraction, misplaced using the rear a part of her physique after she suffered a stroke and was euthanized on Nov. 22.  

The aged bear suffered from damaged and rotted enamel and had persistent urinary tract infections, and was allegedly blasted with a hose at instances when it was too gradual to maneuver to its enclosure.

“The truth that the DA is investigating this, and the city supervisor requested them to look into it reveals how critical these allegations are,” mentioned John DiLeonardo, government director of Humane LI.