{"id":63049,"date":"2025-07-13T20:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T20:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63049\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T20:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T20:03:09","slug":"no-bull-these-are-the-wildest-recent-exotic-animal-rescues-in-nyc-li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63049\/","title":{"rendered":"No bull! These are the wildest recent exotic-animal rescues in NYC, LI"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Di Leonardo got a shocking call when a Long Island bull that famously escaped slaughter <\/a>in 2023 was finally found after two months on the lam in Suffolk County.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the phone with the police. They said, \u2018We\u2019re gonna shoot him,\u2019 \u201d Di Leonardo, Humane Long Island\u2019s executive director and anthrozoologist, recently recalled to The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI yelled, \u2018No, don\u2019t do that! I\u2019ll get a sanctuary on the way! I\u2019ll be right there!\u2019 So thankfully, they listened and just corralled him and did not take that shot they had planned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

John Di Leonardo has dedicated his life to rescuing animals in need. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

The frantic intervention landed the iconically brash bovine, aptly renamed \u201cBully Joel\u201d after another famous Long Islander, a peaceful life in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

It also was just one of many wild encounters Di Leonardo has had on the job, where he strives to protect all creatures great and small from Manhattan to Montauk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe save about 1,200 animals a year,\u201d Di Leonardo said on the grounds of Humane Long Island\u2019s Baiting Hollow facility, where he and his wife, Juliana, care for animals before their new, safe forever home gets finalized.<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo has helped rescue several bulls and cows on Long Island. Courtesy of John Di Leonardo<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get animals in every single week. It could be a handful \u2014 or it could be 200,\u201d said Di Leonardo, who has safely wrangled many other bulls in his job as well.<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo\u2019s role is treating critters that are either abandoned or rescued from harrowing circumstances across Long Island and parts of New York City, such as a small kangaroo \u2014 also called a wallaby \u2014 named \u201cJackie Legs\u201d who was recovered from the Coney Island boardwalk<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually got a call about him being exploited in Madison Square Park. There was a guy charging money for pictures,\u201d he said, recalling that a concerned citizen had no luck with police, as they were unfamiliar with legal technicalities.<\/p>\n

He helped save \u201cJackie Legs\u201d the wallaby, too. Courtesy of John Di Leonardo<\/p>\n

Eventually, Di Leonardo teamed up with the NYPD\u2019s animal cruelty unit to create an undercover operation, using the volunteer caller as a spy to tail the marsupial\u2019s handler, then 22-year-old Michael Gibbons, who had bought his pet for nearly $4,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sat on him for a couple of hours while the authorities got themselves together, got down there and confiscated that wallaby,\u201d Di Leonardo said. \u201cNow he lives in a sanctuary where he\u2019s living a much more natural life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another time last year, the animal rescuer had the task of handling a South African ostrich, also known as a lesser rhea, found inside a Bellmore, LI, basement<\/a> with several other exotic animals.<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo said this South African ostrich found in a Long Island basement. Courtesy of John Di Leonardo<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was huge at 5 months old \u2014 almost as tall as me,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was surrounded by venomous reptiles, and I\u2019m sure she was terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cases involve animal abandonment, such as a recent baker\u2019s dozen of ducks rescued from a Brookhaven, LI, park. <\/p>\n

He said Suffolk County has become an unfortunate recent hotspot for abandoned animals, particularly since the Double D Bar Ranch in Manorville was slammed with 112 animal-neglect counts<\/a> last winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had over 160 birds from them,\u201d said Di Leonardo, who\u2019s been swung at and gotten death threats while doing his job at times.<\/p>\n

Humane Long Island is currently taking care of a flock of ducks abandoned in Suffolk County. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

In other instances, he\u2019s negotiated the release of animals from slaughterhouses by trading vegan food with the businesses.<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo also released an extremely rare orange lobster into North Fork waters after it was spotted inside the tank of a ShopRite in Bay Shore on Friday. The grocery chain was happy to oblige.<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo (left) recently released a rare orange lobster found at a ShopRite into local waters. Courtesy of John Di Leonardo<\/p>\n

The do-gooder and his wife, Juliana, make strong efforts to have their animal denizens feel relaxed and at ease around people. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

Di Leonardo, who used to work with people with special needs, said, \u201cI always wanted to help the group that needed the most in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there\u2019s no other group on the planet that is being exploited and harmed on such a large scale as animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said one of his favorite aspects of the job, where many rescues will be viewable at Humane Long Island\u2019s Aug. 2 gala in Riverhead, is witnessing how animals adapt after just a few days out of harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve never known a human touch to be a good thing. So when they come, they\u2019re often terrified,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a couple of days or maybe a couple of weeks, they realize that we\u2019re here to love them and care for them. Many of them become very social and will follow us around and crave our attention.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Di Leonardo got a shocking call when a Long Island bull that famously escaped slaughter in 2023…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5858,18163,42339,3425,1121,6292,45116,6084,5249,5248,7834,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,7836,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-63049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-animal-abuse","10":"tag-animal-rescue","11":"tag-animal-rights","12":"tag-animals","13":"tag-brooklyn","14":"tag-coney-island","15":"tag-cute-animals","16":"tag-long-island","17":"tag-manhattan","18":"tag-metro","19":"tag-nassau-county","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-city","22":"tag-newyork","23":"tag-newyorkcity","24":"tag-ny","25":"tag-nyc","26":"tag-suffolk-county","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-united-states-of-america","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-usa","33":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114847718267780770","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}