HAUPPAUGE, NY — The Town of Islip requested the Suffolk County Supreme Court hold Larry Wallach, owner of Sloth Encounters of Hauppauge, in criminal contempt, according to court documents filed by the town.
The township said Wallach “should be jailed,” claiming he violated a court order “a number of times,” a town spokeswoman told Patch. Wallach violated a court order barring him from operating Sloth Encounters, located at 551 Veterans Memorial Highway, as a “pet store or petting zoo” unless he obtained the necessary approvals from the Town of Islip, the town claims.
The town also requested the court grant it the authority to seize animals in Sloth Encounters. The business allows customers to pay $50 to pet, feed and hold sloths. Undercover Town of Islip inspectors witnessed Wallach allegedly violate the court order on three separate dates, the town stated.
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“The Town of Islip believes it can substantiate 3 separate violations wherein Wallach was in contempt,” the town stated.
Each violation is $50K for a total of $150K, the town wrote.
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Wallach said he will fight the Town of Islip.
“It’s just more crazy garbage,” Wallach said. “We have filed everything. I’m sorry that the town is allowing the animal rights people to bully a really nice business that does so much for the community. Everyone that comes here loves it … Anyway, we will stay and fight for our rights.”
Wallach said he has never been charged with animal cruelty.
John Zollo, Wallach’s attorney, did not respond to Patch’s request for comment.
Sloth Encounters was found guilty of civil contempt of court, the Suffolk County Supreme Court decided on July 11, 2023, documents show. The business was ordered to temporarily close or Wallach would have to pay $250 a day, according to filings.
The business was ordered to stop operating as a “petting zoo” in a Suffolk County Supreme Court decision in March 2023, records show, but the business was found to continue violating Islip Town Code, the court ruled. The Town of Islip is the sole plaintiff against the business.
The Humane Society of the United States conducted an undercover investigation into Sloth Encounters in January, accusing the business of abusing animals.
“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, New York state director for the Humane Society of the United States, said in a statement. “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.”
An investigator with the society said they captured footage of sloths kept in crowded conditions, sloths fighting with one another, a staff member hitting a sloth, and Wallach allegedly grabbing a sloth’s head and neck.
The Humane Society of the United States uploaded the video footage its investigator said they took inside Sloth Encounters to YouTube and social media.
Wallach, in January, said the “only thing that is true” about the Humane Society of the United States’ investigation is that the two male sloths wanted to have a fight.
“The fact is the place is clean the sloths have plenty of room,” Wallach previously said. “And are very well taken care of.”
The investigator said a staff member sprayed and then hit two sloths with a spray bottle “more than 20 times,” causing one sloth to fall from a branch onto the floor. The sloth narrowly missed falling on a customer who was holding another sloth, the society said.
Wallach previously told Patch he fired the staff member.
Sloth Encounters was converted from a former pool supplies store and houses seven sloths, according to The Humane Society.
“Humane Long Island is optimistic that this motion, which includes a request to seize the animals, will begin the long overdue process of rehoming the animals to reputable sanctuaries where they can live more natural lives and putting Larry Wallach into a cage of his own,” said John Di Leonardo, an anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Island.
Wallach also offered the society’s investigator close encounters with a solitary kangaroo and two capybaras, as well as a solitary cockatoo that was “desperate for attention,” the society stated.
In 2022, dueling petitions have been created around Sloth Encounters, with one advocating for the business and the other pushing for its shutdown.
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