Noah’s Park Retreat cited for dead and missing wallabies

A wallaby named Rocco is still missing in New York. Photo credit: Facebook/Noah's Park Retreat.

One wallaby is dead and one wallaby is still missing after escaping from Noah’s Park Retreat in Goshen, New York, in March and the roadside zoo has now been cited with a critical U.S. Department of Agriculture violation for the incident.

On March 26 multiple gates were left open at Noah’s Park Retreat, documents say. Wallabies and Patagonian cavies escaped from their enclosures. The facility is not surrounded by a perimeter fence and two of the wallabies escaped from the property. One of the wallabies was later found deceased and the second wallaby–named Rocco–has not been recovered.

The recent wallaby escape incident is not the first time Noah’s Park Retreat has lost a wallaby. The roadside zoo was previously cited for an April 2021 incident involving the same male wallaby that escaped from his enclosure. Police later recaptured Rocco and returned him to Noah’s Park Retreat.

Noah’s Park Retreat has been cited with a total of 16 USDA violations in the past year. Other violations include jagged wire in enclosures which animals could get cut on, rusty enclosures, food prep areas that were not sanitary, insufficient ventilation, a buildup of grime and debris in multiple animal enclosures and failing to have a perimeter fence to act as a secondary containment for animals.