STATEN’S CAPT. KANGAROO
Exotic-animal ‘keeper’ goes wild again: cops
Buster the kangaroo became the latest illegal animal to escape a crass menagerie on Staten Island on Saturday.
Two mechanics arrived at their autorepair shop on Travis Avenue at 8 a.m to find the male marsupial bouncing around the parking lot.
“I pulled in and thought it was a deer,” Bleron Osmani told The Post. “So I went to nudge it with my car to move it out of the way, and I saw it lift up its two arms and I said, ‘That’s not a deer!’”
“We thought maybe it was from the zoo, so we called the police,” said his brother, Urim.
“We were afraid he would go out on the street and get hurt,” Bleron added.
Buster had hopped two houses down from the Victory Boulevard home of Giovanni Schirripa, 33, known as Johnny, a serial exoticanimal owner who has kept zebras, peacocks and roosters as pets.
“Johnny loves animals,” said a neighbor. “I looked out the upstairs window, and I saw the kangaroo. And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s Johnny’s kangaroo.’ ”
He said he called Schirripa and told him to come get his yearandahalfold, 3foottall buddy.
“Johnny came up and picked up the kangaroo in his arms,” he said.
Apparently the Australian import bounded to freedom when someone left the gate of a backyard enclosure unlatched. It bounced around for 10 to 15 minutes before being captured, said police.
Cops did not charge or ticket Schirripa, who claimed the kangaroo lives with his brother upstate legally — it is not legal in New York City — and was only visiting.
He had a similar tail of woe in 2012, when a zebra and a miniature pony escaped his urban jungle and trotted through traffic before being lassoed. Schirripa told authorities then he had a permit for a petting zoo starring Razzi the Zebra. But the city Health Department told The Post no such license had been issued.
He also claimed he shipped the pony and zebra away to Phillipsburg, NJ.
“When [the Health Department] first got here, they questioned me about the whereabouts of the zebra,” Schirripa told The Post then. “And I told them, ‘I don’t have to tell you anything about the zebra. It’s just not here.’ ”
Instead, the Health Department slapped him with violations for housing three roosters and three peacocks.
A notforprofit called Saving Souls Rescue, which helps abandoned pit bulls, is listed at the 3633 Victory Blvd. address. A woman at the home refused to speak to a reporter.
As for the latest outlaw animal, a neighbor told The Post that he found Buster the kangaroo in his back yard two weeks ago.
“It’s a bit normal around here. It’s happened before,” he said.
Schirripa told cops Buster would be sent back upstate immediately. But no cars with a skippy in it were seen leaving the house Saturday.
The Post did spot a cockatoo and two guard dogs, and heard chickens and roosters (roosters are also illegal to keep in the city) on the sprawling property.
“Johnny’s always got something,” said another neighbor. “He walks around with a snake around his neck.”