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HERALD 2021
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Oceanside/island park
By Tom Carrozza
DECEMBER 30, 2021 - JANuARY 5, 2022
VOl. 57 NO. 1
A wildlife superhero
tcarrozza@liherald.com
L Courtesy Say Their Names xx/Herald Oceanside students and educators celebratxx ed at the Say Their Names Association’s Page 0 inaugural scholarship awards ceremony.
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Courtesy Katie Smaragdas xx/Herald Sophia Smaragdas, 6, is remembered for
xx her energetic demeanor and love of singing and dancing.
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Kepherd Daniel
xx/Herald Charlie McKee, right, with his coach, Robert xx Blount, was named the Gatorade New York Page 0 Football Player of the Year.
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ike a superhero, Chelsea Euliano, 35, often drops everything at a moment’s notice, regardless of where she is or whom she is with. In recent years, the Oceanside resident has become the go-to person to aid animals at all times of day or night. Along with a network of animal lovers from New York City to the Hamptons, Euliano has donated her time and resources to help wildlife from dogs and cats to squirrels, opossums and even a bald eagle. She works with non-profit organization Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation, or WINORR, for specialized cases like swans, hawks and other nondomesticated creatures. “It’s not to say I have never been scared, but my drive and my passion to help something that can’t help itself outweighs my fears in those moments,” Euliano said. Euliano has such a keen eye when it comes to living things that she spotted a grasshopper missing a hind leg in 2019. “I always had an eye for it,” Euliano said. “I would see a whole family of ducks and could point out something wrong with one of them.” For all that she has done for the local wildlife community and our environment, the Oceanside-Island Park Herald proudly names Chelsea Euliano as our Person of the Year 2021. An Oceanside native, Euliano said she has been an animal lover since she was a child, but earned her wildlife rehabilitation license from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation this past spring by passing its online exam. Along with the license, Euliano takes several courses a year to expand her knowledge of species rare to Long Island. This year that included a rabies course through the DEC and a weeklong webinar with many
HERALD PERSON OF THE YEAR
Chelsea euliano
C ‘
helsea is the most selfless person . . .‘ gilaT nahum Resident
other wildlife rehabilitators in the state. When called upon to help an animal, Euliano asks for a photo, some background information and the address
before packing her net, gloves and cage and heading out. When there, the rehabilitator also makes a point of educating those who call her on how to approach a similar situation in the future. Euliano estimates that she goes through that process hundreds of times a year from dusk until dawn — all on a volunteer basis. She does this while holding down her job as a customer service manager at Blink Voice Communications, where her brother Justin serves as the CEO. Each time she returns from helping an animal in need, she posts on Facebook to give a description of the encounter and gives a link to donate to rehabilitators and organizations that help nurse the animals back to health. The locally famous animal expert has even provided assistance for the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct over the past five years, often being called upon by the department to assist officers in situations in which injured animals are reported in the Oceanside area. Her most superhero-like story from this year came when she was about to head out to a dinner date and got a call from the 4th Precinct about an opossum that was hit by a car. With great power comes great responsibility, and Euliano set off dressed for a date to aid the animal’s babies, or “joeys,” which were still in the mother’s pouch. Euliano was able to recover the joeys for the police, recommend a rehabilitation site and return home in time for her date. In one instance over the summer, Euliano was called to the Southern State Parkway by state troopers to aid a goose that was lying in the middle of the busy Continued on page 17 Courtesy Chelsea Euliano
Chelsea Euliano, of Oceanside, will drop anything at any time to care for animals when needed, even a bald eagle. That is why she is the Herald’s 2021 Person of the Year.