Robbed of three albino boa constrictors, a 3-and-a-half-foot alligator and a 5-foot long Argentine red tegu lizard, the owner of The Animal Hut pet store in Mastic isn’t out for justice. His main concern is the welfare of the stolen animals.
“I’m really worried about them,” Alex Fadiano told Metro. “If they are in a cold place they could develop upper-respiratory infections.
“I don’t care about anybody getting arrested,” he added. “I just want my animals back. I won’t ask any questions.”
The five exotic animals, with a combined worth of $1,595, were swiped from the pet store, located at 1280 Montauk Highway in Mastic, sometime between 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday — and cops are on the hunt for the thieves.
“I have a lot of customers who are in and out of the store, so I didn’t notice anyone casing the animals,” said Fadiano. “They busted open the back door. I don’t know what kind of person would do this.”
“Only a crazy person would want animals like that in the first place, and the fact that they stole them makes them a true head case,” said Rich, a clerk at Pet Company at North Service Road in Patchogue, who declined to reveal his last name.
“You need a license to get animals like that,” he continued. “Maybe the robbers didn’t have a license and didn’t want to go through the red tape of getting one. Or maybe they wanted to sell them. Alligators and boa constrictors go quickly on the black market.”
