New York Man Busted For Possessing Dangerous Animals, Including Sloths & Kangaroos

Officials say that a man from New York has been cited for possessing dangerous animals. An investigation involving multiple agencies, including the New York State DEC, has found that the suspect has a long history of animal welfare violations.

The man has quite the long history as well. The rescue organization Humane Long Island says that the same man had previously plead guilty to trafficking dangerous animals in New York, and had already fled to Florida at least once before.

Humane World For Animals described in a previous post from 2024, that the suspect ran a group call Sloth Encounters that they described as a "heartbreaking scene of animal suffering and exploitation."

New York Man Busted For Possessing Dangerous Animals, Including Sloths & Kangaroos

Humane Long Island reports the owner of Sloth Encounters was just cited for possessing dangerous animals, including two sloths and a kangaroo.

Long Island 12 reports that town officials said that the animals were discovered in the man's car, and were "in violation of the Oyster Bay dangerous animals ordinance, which regulates the possession and transportation of certain exotic species within town limits."

See Also: New York Man Busted With Over 100 Exotic Animals, Including Monitor Lizards, Snakes etc.

Human Long Island says that the man's Hauppauge facility had already been shut down by the New York Supreme Court and his USDA license was canceled. However, the man allegedly fled to Florida, and continued exhibiting animals illegally.

According to CBS, the legal battle is a bit of a gray area. According to New York state law, "sloths are generally not explicitly prohibited", though they are heavily restricted in certain areas like  New York City.

Human Long Island says that the exhibition of sloths, as well as kangaroos, is illegal  in Westchester County, Suffolk County, New York City, and man towns in Nassau County.