Peninsula, 12/11; More About Rabies

I was on the Peninsula today at about 11am, walking my bicycle towards the "Thumb". I had been hearing a lot of barking noise coming from that direction when suddenly, two large, gray Bergamascos appeared, barking and charging at me. I placed my bike between myself and the oncoming dogs. Two guys with three other, leashed Bergamascos were walking from the direction of the Thumb. I said in a very loud voice, "Dogs are never allowed offleash in the wood. Leash your dogs now!" I remained holding my bike between the dogs and me, prepared to hit the dogs with my bicycle, if need be. They leashed the dogs and walked by me without saying anything. When they got about 20 yards away, the one guy unleashed his dog again. I yelled to him, "Nice way to leash your dog." One guy stopped and yelled back, "You have nothing better to do than harass dog owners?" His attitude made me even more angry because people like him now demand that anyone walking through their local parks accept being menaced by strange dogs.

* * *

From Datnioides:

Whiny self righteous dog owner responds to my comment at the NY Times:

"And for Pit Bull Owner, the self-appointed leash law deputy. Although I feel more sorry for his dogs. To have pit bulls in the City is an act of cruelty to such dogs, as some misguided owners have tarnished their reputation and created the image of an agressive breed. It is virtually impossible not to have them leashed. But what a life that is for an athletic animal. It is a good compromise that dogs off-leash are tolerated at certain hours and in certain areas. Do not take that quality of life away from dogs and responsible owners by demanding an across the board prohibition.
The rabies threat is a non-issue with the vaccinations. May be the police/rangers can check that now and then, but I am certain there are almost no violations. We dog owners care nad the vaccination is quick, cheap and easy to get."

----How is he so certain that there are no violations? The license, for those few who get it for their dog (I am one) does NOT require proof of rabies vaccination. It only requires proof of neutering for the reduced fee. And why does he believe that an "athletic animal" cannot get sufficient exercise on a leash? is he a lazy owner who doesn't have the time to walk or jog with his dog on a leash around the park circle every day?

And from the Prospect Park Advocate, August 22, 2007:

Sick dogs

The following letter was submitted to the "NY Post" by a friend of mine. It was in response to the article in the previous posting:

Date: August 22, 2007 1:09:01 PM EDT
To: tatiana.deligiannakis@nypost.com
Subject: Sick Dogs in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Let us not overlook the fact that many Park Slope dogs are allowed to play off leash in nearby Prospect Park, with hundreds of other off leash dogs. For some reason, Commissioner Friedan and the NYC Department of Health thought it was a great idea for the Parks Departments to allow hordes of unfamiliar dogs run loose together in unfenced meadows, without any oversight whatsover of the health status of those dogs. It's not surprising that kennel cough has spread so quickly among Park Slope's canine population.

Any dog can enter Prospect Park and be released to play with all the other dogs. No one is checking current vaccinations or general health status of the dog park attendees, so every dog's health is potentially at risk. Let's hope that rabies is not the next disease to be vectored by the tired, happy dogs of Prospect Park.

And a follow-up on September 6:

Rabies Isn't Funny

The following was posted on the blog "The Gowanus Lounge":

Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Why Brooklyn is Better: Aggressive Geese & Attacking Raccoons

This email caught our attention for two reasons: A Prospect Park raccoon biting someone and "very aggressive" ducks and geese. Here's what it says:

My family and I were feeding the ducks & geese yesterday afternoon at the lake near the Vanderbilt entrance (something we won't do again because they got very aggressive) and saw a raccoon moseying around in plain sight. I was disturbed that people were not moving away from it and was explaining to my son that there must be something wrong with the animal if it dares to walk around where people were. At the time it was crossing under a log where a woman was sitting with her family. I turned away momentarily, when the woman starts screaming, jumps up and I see the husband pulling the animal off her. The raccoon had bitten her on her upper thigh.

Later I spoke with a fellow who was closer to the incident and he told me that the police had arrived shortly after we left and that he had urged the woman to go to the hospital.

Ah, urban nature.

posted by rsguskind at 8:10 AM

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...
I live in Forest Hills, North of Queens Blvd. Racoons are pretty common around here, but they rarely walk around in daylight... you can see them crossing the street at night sometimes.

If the racoon was walking in daylight, around people, and bit a woman, odds are the racoon was rabid.

If I was that woman, I would go get rabies shots. 10:12 AM

Anonymous said...
we used to have raccoons all the time in norwalk connecticut but rabies damn near wiped them out. Sounds like it moved to the city finally. 10:31 AM

icky said...
Imagine, wild animals out in nature. How offensive that must have been for those poor people.
Okay, okay. The racoon probably had something wrong with it and for that I sympathise. (I got chased and bit by a crazy squirrel once.) Wouldn't want anyone to get sick. But, they're not people, ya know. They are not "trained." They're not even pets. They're wild animals. You wanted nature? You got it. Besides, the picture of someone being chased by a goose is funny no matter who is involved. 10:59 AM

icky said:
Besides, the picture of someone being chased by a goose is funny no matter who is involved.Man...LOL I have to agree with you on that 1:20 PM

hellx said...
At this rate, pretty soon we're going to see stories like this onecoming out of Williamsburg. 1:54 PM

Anonymous said...
For several years, The Center for Disease Control, New York State's department of health and NYC's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have been "alerting" the public about the sharp increase in incidents of rabies in NYC. Just do a search for "Rabies AND "New York City"". Ignoring the obvious could cause that woman her life.

It also makes me wonder why the health department thinks it's a good idea to unleash dogs in city parks. Population control?

From a correspondent:

When NYC's offleash lunatic fringe began demanding that the DoPR allow dog owners to unleash their pets in the city parks I made three predictions. First, I said that dog bites would increase. A recent newspaper article showed Health Department statistics that bear that out. Second, after I read several CDC rabies reports that showed increasing cases in NYS and NYC, I predicted that offleash dogs would become unnecessarily at risk for rabies infections. Today's news stories backed up that concern. Finally, it hasn't occurred yet, but I guarantee that within the next couple of years there will be a very public case where a child is either badly mauled or killed by a "legally" unleashed dog in a NYC park. There are many outrageous aspects to the third item. I think the most galling is that the DoPR's legal team has attempted to avoid any culpability by including the statement "owners must be in control of their dogs at all times" in the offleash rule changes. Can anyone's pet ever be considered "in control" once released in a public space?