Animal Welfare Cited—

Feds Close Down

Local ‘Zoo’

By Jeff White

A year ago, the fate of Susan DeFrancesco’s home “zoo” hung in the balance amid state Humane Society inquiries into the conditions in which her animals lived on her Osborne Hill Extension property.

This week, it appeared that Ms DeFrancesco’s battle with state and federal officials would come up short; she is closing the zoo’s doors and looking for homes for her animals.

A US Department of Agriculture administrative law judge recently found Ms DeFrancesco guilty of violating the Animal Welfare Act, citing, among other things, her failure to provide for the frequent collection and removal of waste; failure to keep food and water receptacles clean and sanitized; and failure to provide animals with adequate shelter from the elements.

The Department of Agriculture fined Ms DeFrancesco $20,000 and ordered her East Coast Exotics zoo closed for a period of no less than 70 days.

The latest case against Ms DeFrancesco’s home zoo was brought before the USDA by its own Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which responded in this instance to several documented complaints that East Coast Exotics was violating the welfare of animals.

“When we do an investigation, we visit the site and collect information to support our case,” said Jim Rogers, an APHIS spokesperson. Mr Rogers added that on several visits, the inspection team was able to build such a case, enough to win in a federal court.

“DeFrancesco’s facility wasn’t even close to being in compliance with the law,” said W. Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator for animal care with the APHIS. “East Coast Exotics is no place for animals, and it will not be allowed to operate until there is full compliance with the AWA.”

Ms DeFrancesco has always claimed that she has had the best interest of her animals in mind, which she maintained this week as she made her way to the animal pens at the side of her house. Animals within this zoo used to include arctic foxes, large rheas, wallabies, and an iguana, among others. Now, a potbelly pig, a llama, two New Guinea singing dogs, and four cats are all that remain. She has found homes for all the rest.

“It’s hard,” she said. “What can I do? It’s not like I did this on purpose.”

Ms DeFrancesco said her troubles with state environmental officials date back to 1993, and continued, pretty much unabated, through last year. Although last summer’s visit by a Humane Society representative eventually cleared her to continue to operate her zoo, the inspector, Gary Wilson, said at the time that her future was out of his hands.

“I’m in a tight squeeze,” said Ms DeFrancesco, who used to host Animal Talk on Channel 21. “I’ve placed a lot of animals, but I’m having difficulty placing all of them.”

Ms DeFrancesco is in the process of appealing the Department of Agriculture’s ruling, and in a letter to an administrative law judge she said that her right to due process was violated because she had no idea that the case was even going to court.

Her main concern, however, is the $20,000 fine, which she said she could not afford to pay. Her Osborne Hill Extension home is under foreclosure, and the small fees she collected giving tours and lecturing were barely enough to support her four children, who now live with her ex husband, she explained. Now that the zoo is closed, she does not have any options.

“They’ve destroyed me,” she said. “Even if I had [$20,000], I have to start my life over. What am I going to do? Live in a shelter?”

The future is not clear for Ms DeFrancesco. Although her appeal is working its way through the courts, she is adopting out her animals anyway. She said she might move back to Norwalk and perhaps take a job that would capitalize on her knowledge of animals.

But as she looked over her now mostly empty zoo, she could not help but to feel a little bit taken advantage of. She recognized that state environmental officials had won.

“I don’t have much of a future anywhere,” she said. “I don’t have enough money to play the game they want to play.”