Edwin J. Ferrar, well-known animal trainer, dies

Edwin J. Ferrar, of Valley Stream, died on July 16, 2010, due to complications from a broken hip. He was 90.

Ferrar was once Long Island’s best known wild animal tamer. He appeared on dozens of television shows including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the Merv Griffin Show and the Mike Douglas Show. Many Long Island residents recall seeing his “Wild Cargo” wagon with one of his tigers, lions, leopards or jaguars in the back driving around the streets.

He was a highly decorated World War II fighter pilot captain. Ferrar received numerous awards and medals, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal of Honor. Additionally, he a was a triple “ace” with 17 enemy planes shot down in his 78 combat missions. He once downed four in three minutes.

Ferrar was captured by the American forces as a possible German spy who parachuted from a German V-3 rocket. He was later returned to his base with apologies.

After bombing raids on the Nazis, Ferrar flew back into Germany to drop packages of food to his grandmother who lived there.

He was born on June 3, 1920, and raised in St. Albans, Queens. After the war, he moved to Long Island and started an insurance brokerage business. That wasn’t exciting enough after four years in the Air Force, so he also started racing cars and training wild animals.

Ferrar plead guilty in March of 1962 to harboring a wild animal at his Lynwood Drive home, a lion named Congo. Judge Frank A. Visone of Nassau County District Court met the animal face-to-face in the court’s parking lot, which licked his fingers. The judge suspended Ferrar’s sentence, as long as he removed the lion from the community.

Survivors include his son, Steven, daughter, Susan Dalessandro, and grandchildren Ron, Dan, Rich, Gary and Tracy. Ferrar was predeceased by his wife, Mary, of 61 years. His business, Ferrar Insurance Agency in Franklin Square, is now run by his son.

Funeral services were held at Blessed Sacrament Church and military burial followed at Calverton Cemetery.

“He made his 90th birthday,” son Steven Ferrar said. “That’s what he wanted to do.”