Wildlife Sightings on Laurelton Boulevard

There is a crocodile outside a house in Long Beach. He’s joined an oversized frog, a reindeer the size of a cat, a pig, an a life-sized cow and a kangaroo, pony, penguin along with a boa constrictor and bat that hang from a tree. And amid these and many other species stands the Virgin Mary. 

Of course, the Holy Mother is a figurine, just like the rest of the wild kingdom of statuettes that surrounds her y in the concrete front yard at 309 Laurelton Blvd. in Long Beach. Soon, an eight-foot giraffe will join them.

“My mom loves animals,” said Norma Casto when asked last week about these hundred of more garden statues that remain outside their home all year.

Castro’s mother, Norma Escalante, grew up in Las Marias, Puerto Rico, in a home roamed by various animals, including cows, rabbits, horses, pigs and chickens. Castro and her sister, Norma Luz, knew that one way to get their mother to leave her native land to come live with them in the Unites States was to buy her animals.

“I told her, ‘I’ll get you all the animals you want,” Norma Luz said. “And the best part is you don’t have to feed them.”

They’ve lived in their house for 31 years and have four dogs, all of them real flesh and blood. With the house directly behind Laurel Luncheonette, many motorists who park on the median outside the diner on Laurelton, or who drive or walk by on their way to the beach, often stop and take a gander over their white picket fence.

“People drive by in their car, stop and say: Oh my God!” Castro said.

Some take photos, as if the yard is a tourist attraction, and once, about 10 years ago, a News 12 crew did a feature on their collection.

Castro said the collection got started about 20 years ago when they bought a crocodile. The kangaroo is the latest piece, purchased about three months ago through a magazine, Toscano, where they got most of their other pieces. Next is the eight-foot giraffe.

“Oh my God, do a lot of people come to take pictures,” Castro said. “And the kids. They love it.”