New York: 400 Birds, Turtles, Chinchillas Seized From NY Home belonging to Gary Gruber

NEW YORK -- Approximately 400 animals, mostly birds and turtles, were seized from a home Tuesday in what is being called Nassau County's largest animal seizure.

Nassau County SPCA spokesman Gary Rogers said officers with the Animal Crime Unit executed a search warrant at the home on Ocean Avenue in Bellmore Tuesday morning and found the animals living in unsanitary conditions.

The raid came after a neighbor complained numerous times about the noise and smell from the home.

The family shared the house with more than 250 birds, many of them beautiful, most of them exotic, and all of them loud.

"It sounded like the Amazon," a neighbor said.

"Oh, yeah. You can't help but know. You walk by and hear the birds," said Jackie Cornman, a neighbor.

"This is the illegal one. That's an illegal Asian Water Monitor," an animal expert said.

 

Birds were just the beginning. The owner had 151 reptiles, mostly turtles, like an alligator snapping turtle. He also had chinchilla's, prairie dogs, a skunk, and a few sugar gliders.

Nathan DeCorpo, a lawyer for homeowner Gary Gruber [wants us to believe that] his client "is a conservationist who rehabilitates animals". But the SPCA disagrees.

"We're going to be here for a long time today. It was animals living in filthy [slimy] water, they didn't have proper food and water, and they were living without a healthy supply of healthy fresh air. It was very unsanitary in there," said Gary Rogers, SPCA Spokesman. "It’s a condition that you wouldn’t want to live in and we have a responsibility not to leave the animals there either.”

Workers wore Tyvek suits and some had air filtration systems because the smell was so pungent.

"It's horrible for the animals. The animals couldn't have fared well, and you saw, the animals that are coming out, there's nine birds in a cage, that's cruelty and those animals are beautiful," Cornman said.

 

It’s not the first time animal rescuers visited Gruber.

Nearly a year ago, they removed an alligator he owned. In a deal back then, Gruber was told to clean up his home [in exchange for criminal charges not being filed against him] but he failed to meet the deadline. The investigation is continuing.

(WABC- June 21, 2016)