Whether it’s an illegal or unpermitted snake, lizard, alligator or another type of reptile and amphibian you have, this Saturday, April 27, is your chance to get it off your hands.
Turn in the animals at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown. It will take the animal friend off your hands with no questions asked because it’s hosting a Reptile and Amphibian Amnesty Day.
Many of these animals are not suitable to have at home. They may have started out small and manageable, but eventually they grow big and mature, and hard to handle. Some may also be venomous, which puts people around it at risk.
Any fears of getting in trouble for having an illegal pet or owning the pet without a license are eliminated when they are brought to Sweetbriar Nature Center this Saturday.
There needs to be a stop to the random release of these animals in places where they do not belong.
In the last year, there have are been many alligator findings on Long Island, everywhere from a window well of a Southampton township home, the lawn of a Mastic Beach home, the Wading River golf course, a Baldwin supermarket parking lot to the Lilly Pond County Park.
Just last week, there were four juvenile alligators found in the Peconic River in Calverton that are believed to have been ditched by its owner. One of the alligators died. It’s an unfortunate ending, but the fact is alligators are unable to survive in the cold water of Long Island. They need to be in the right environment to survive and thrive.
Saturday’s Reptile and Amphibian Amnesty Day is organized by the Suffolk County SPCA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
You can bring illegal and unpermitted reptiles and amphibians between noon and 4 p.m. to Sweetbriar Nature Center, located at 62 Eckernkamp Drive in Smithtown with veterinarians, herpetologists and a mobile hospital on site. Legal pets that do not require a permit or that are not are not threatened or endangered will not be accepted.