As Holtsville zoo closes, its founding family reflects on how it began

What became the Holtsville zoo got its start nearly 50 years ago with a single raccoon.

Harold Malkmes, Brookhaven Town's highway superintendent in the 1970s, loved animals and couldn't resist when the furry critter was brought to the town's Coram compost yard, his family said.

The raccoon — no one remembers where it came from or exactly when — was soon followed by a parade of foxes, chickens, eagles, turkeys and bobcats. Some had been injured in the wild. Some had been kept illegally as pets. 

The compost facility moved to Holtsville, and the animals kept coming.

Town workers set up special enclosures for bears, bison and cougars.

There was a bald eagle struck by a car in New Jersey. And steer and mustangs rescued from possible slaughter.

Through it all, Malkmes, who retired in 2000 and died 11 years later, presided over the zoo with a zealous pride, often personally leading Scout group tours, Newsday previously reported. The Holtsville Ecology Site and Animal Preserve, where the zoo is located, is named for him.

“It was dad’s dream,” his son, Michael Malkmes, 71, of Miller Place, said during a recent visit to the zoo. “It was a rescue [facility] basically.”

Now, Brookhaven officials are trying to find new homes for about 130 animals housed at the zoo, which is scheduled to close at the end of the month following allegations of abuse and neglect of the animals. Brookhaven officials said the facility had become an increasing burden on the town's finances and questioned whether a municipality should be in the business of operating a zoo. Town officials unanimously agreed to stop funding the attraction due to rising costs, looming repairs and shifting financial priorities.

A Newsday investigation in December 2024 found whistleblowers, including former zoo workers, had documented what they said were instances of neglect and abuse of animals at the facility. They cited among other examples the case of Honey, an American black bear who was euthanized at the zoo in November 2024. Town officials have denied the allegations. 

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office announced an investigation shortly after the Newsday report was published.

Despite pleas from supporters — including parents, children, educators and current and former zoo workers — Brookhaven officials said the zoo had become a drain on town finances. The town board voted 7-0 on Nov. 20 to approve Brookhaven's 2026 town budget, which calls for closing the zoo.  

The rest of the ecology site, which includes swimming pools and summer camps, will remain open, officials have said.

The zoo "grew into a large and costly operation," Town Supervisor Dan Panico said in an interview before the town board vote. He added Brookhaven needed "to focus on the core functions of town government.”

The decision left Michael Malkmes, himself a retired Brookhaven highway department worker, wondering what might have been if his father were still around.

“We need some heavy lifters," he said. "And dad’s not around to do the heavy lifting.”

Financial straits, allegations of neglect

A meandering walking path at the zoo takes guests past a menagerie of exotic species, birds of prey and barnyard animals in custom-made pens. A curious alpaca approaches a visitor while a bison in another enclosure keeps its distance from onlookers.

Elsewhere are a lynx, a bobcat, ducks, turkeys, owls, a porcupine — and Holtsville Hal, the symbolic but camera-shy star of Brookhaven's annual Groundhog Day celebration. (The town borrows a substitute groundhog from another sanctuary to see its shadow on Feb. 2.)

Animal welfare advocates had called for the zoo's closure, citing Newsday's exclusive story. They called for the animals to be relocated to sanctuaries with stricter standards regulating the animals' care.

The Holtsville zoo was not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The AZA, whose website says it maintains the "gold standard" in accreditation, requires facilities to comply with strict safety protocols and standards for veterinary care and animal welfare. Welfare assessments are conducted at least annually, according to the AZA's website. 

The Town of Brookhaven, though, never applied to the organization for accreditation, Newsday has reported.

Panico defended the town's stewardship of the zoo and said the decision to close the facility was driven solely by budget considerations.

Town records show the zoo, which does not charge admission, lost money in recent years. In 2024, the zoo ran a $957,872 deficit on revenues of $146,357 and expenditures of $1,104,229, including salaries for six full-time and nine part-time workers. 

Panico said the zoo also cost an additional $1 million per year in capital improvements, for a total annual cost of about $2 million. Brookhaven's 2026 budget is $367.2 million.

In a September interview, Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said the zoo needed potentially millions of dollars more in repairs in coming years, including new roofs, walking paths and electrical upgrades.

The shutdown of the ecology site's indoor heating system last year forced the cancellation of the town's annual holiday lights show, a major fundraiser held at the site each December that provided funds for animal care at the zoo, town officials said at the time. The light show also was canceled this year, they said.

The zoo is funded through March to maintain care for the animals until they are placed in new homes, Panico has said. 

A family tradition

The zoo took in ill and abandoned animals from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the Suffolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and independent rescue organizations, officials said.

Some zoo supporters, including Harold Malkmes' grandson, Patrick Malkmes, offered to help raise money to save the zoo. Some suggested new sources of funding, such as renting the zoo for corporate events and weddings. Town officials rejected the offers and suggestions as impractical.

For the Malkmes clan, the zoo has been a family tradition. 

“I was upset by [the zoo's closing]," Patrick Malkmes, 48, of Port Jefferson, the owner of a software development company, said in a phone interview. "It was something my family held pretty dear. It’s a shame to see it go. Really is. Kids love that place. My kids love that place.” 

He added the family sees the ecology site, including the zoo, as a tribute to Harold Malkmes, who was raised in his family's horticulture business and became an early proponent of recycling and composting. 

“My grandfather was a visionary,” Patrick Malkmes said. “My grandfather always found a way to get things done.”

Walking through the zoo earlier this month brought back memories for father and son. Patrick Malkmes remembered a red fox named Foxy Lady. Michael Malkmes recalled the delight his father, who raised three children, took in the births of hatchlings and cubs.

"Mom said dad was more excited about that than when we were born,” Michael Malkmes said.

The zoo's closure leaves the family with mixed feelings.

Patrick Malkmes said he wished there had been more time — and more money — to make sure the zoo continued to take in Long Island's wounded and homeless wildlife.  

"There’s no other place on Long Island that has the credentials that this place has, and the people,” he said. “This was the only place that could do that.”

His father called the zoo's closing "sad, but inevitable.”

“We didn’t want it to become a tax burden," he said, "and the animals are the biggest expense.”