_______ Lynbrook/east rockaway ______
HERALD Also serving Bay Park
Biggest sunflower of them all?
Taking the lEAD in athletics
Another Holocaust survivor lost
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Vol. 29 No. 31
JUlY 28 - AUGUST 3, 2022
$1.00
A cockatiel’s very incredible journey home Family pet found 20 miles away went outside, and I started feeding lettuce to the turtle, and my husband says, ‘You know the acebook has been a great bird’s on your shoulder.’” social media platform to The shock of that caused Elizfind long-lost friends abeth to scream, since Benjie and maybe even family never ventured outside the members. But what about a longhouse. lost pet cockatiel? “I must have Benjie flew his spooked him, and he Lynbrook coop July flew off,” she said. 16, and Elizabeth “Going outside with Podgorsky feared the bird on the shoulshe’d never see her der and getting lost gray bird again. is like, I have nightBenjie had lived mares about this in the Podgorsky when I’m stressed. household for four This is my stress years, named after dream that I lose my Benjen Stark, a rangbird doing someer guarding the giant thing like that.” wall of ice on the Elizabeth’s shriek ElizABETH northern end of not only scared BenPoDGorSkY Westeros from the jie, but alerted her popular HBO drama neighbors, too. Soon cockatiel owner series, “Game of enough, they had Thrones.” He was joined her outside one of the last vestiges of a nowlooking for the lost bird. Followclosed pet shop in Mineola that ing a frantic search and an unexbred birds and hand-raised them pected rainstorm, one of Elizafor sale. beth’s neighbors suggested she “The bird is doing what he hop on Facebook and post about normally does, which is hop Benjie. Like his fictional namefrom shoulder to shoulder,” Elizsake, the bird could be almost abeth remembers. “He hopped anywhere. And hopefully he’d on my shoulder. I didn’t know. I Continued on page 15
By moHAmED FArGHAlY mfarghaly@liherald.com
F
NAS, LYN, MAL, LON
Brian Pfail/Herald
SloTH ENcoUNTErS miGHT be found in Hauppauge in Suffolk County, but at least some of its tree-hugging residents are supplied by Larry Wallach of East Rockaway, who has faced scrutiny from some animal rights groups and even the federal government in the past for how he maintains animals. Now the president of Humane Long Island wants to shut this exhibit down.
East Rockaway exotic animal lover is once again under fire By BriAN PFAil bpfail@liherald.com
An East Rockaway man with a history of getting in trouble with some of the animals he’s kept has become the focus of attention again over a sloth exhibit he’s maintained in Hauppauge. Larry Wallach is facing more than a dozen compliancy notes from local officials for his petting zoo — known as Sloth Encounters — for everything from dirty water to unkept cages. It’s yet another string of complaints against Wallach that has grabbed the attention NAS, LYN, MAL, LON
of Humane Long Island president John Di Leonardo, who wants the Suffolk County facility shut down. “I’ve seen pictures from complainants who have contacted me about this place,” Di Leonardo said. “This isn’t a zoological park. It’s literally an old pool store that he blacked out the windows and put some fake plants inside.” Di Leonardo has never met Wallach, or even been inside Sloth Encounters. But the well-being of the sluggish tree dwellers is paramount to him, and he believes Wallach is simply exploiting the animals for money. Continued on page 4 July 28, 2022
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he whole thing genuinely made me restore my faith in humanity.