Brooklyn Paper Continues Crusade to Save Prospect Park ‘Lake of Death’
By Dana Rubinstein April 23, 2010 3:54 pm
reprints
The Brooklyn Paper, perhaps searching for a new obsession now that its fixation of yore—Atlantic Yards—is a fait accompli, is continuing its crusade to rescue the animals of Prospect Park from a recent spate of lakeside violence, one that has prompted the paper to dub the greensward’s body of water “The Lake of Death.”
On Friday, the paper reports that the decomposed body of a dog was fished from the murky waters of the Prospect Park Lake, just the latest in a series of dead animals that have washed up on the shores of the normally bucolic lake:
Parks officials confirmed that a small dog was found early on April 22 during a routine cleaning of the lake and its environs.
At first, it was believed that the poor pooch was Thompy, a dog-napped Boerum Hill Cocker Spaniel who disappeared on April 14, but parks officials diffused the rumor, claiming the remains were so badly decomposed that they must have been in the water for weeks.
The carcass was in such bad shape that the maintenance worker who found it had to scoop it from the water with a crate, explained Prospect Park spokesman Eugene Patron.
As mentioned, this is not the first animal carcass to be found recently near the lake.
On April 1, the paper printed an angry editorial, headlined “Who will stop the disgusting dumping and killings in Prospect Park?” which read, in part:
For more than three weeks, a series of bizarre and increasingly violent incidents have stalked the lakefront – from the discovery of some blood on the shoreline, to the slaying of turtles to the mysterious dumping of animal entrails and dozens of chicken heads to the arson fires. A duck and an opossum also turned up dead.
The repulsive situation hit a new low this week when one of the park’s swans died, possibly as a result of the lake’s current status as a toxic soup bowl.
…
If murder, blood, arson and death was stalking Central Park, it would be an international outrage. Mayor Bloomberg would summon his police commissioner to City Hall and demand accountability. Cops would be staked out. Waterfowl would be treated.
In short, there would be action.
But in Prospect Park? Nothing.
The Prospect Park Alliance proceeded to test the lake’s waters for toxins and determined the water was safe.
In response to this latest incident, Parks spokesman Eugene Patron told the Paper, “It’s not necessarily uncommon to find animals that live in the park and naturally expire—rodents, mice, raccoons—in the lake,” Patron said. “Dogs are a bit less common, but they do get lost and possibly fall through the ice.”
