Rabid Raccoon in Brooklyn; Sunday Prospect Park Report

According to yesterday's New York Post, a rabid raccoon was discovered in Boerum Hill "interacting with someone's dog." The story quotes a DOH doctor as saying that "The diseased raccoon is the first found in Brooklyn since raccoon rabies, a variant of the rabies virus, first appeared in the city in 1992." It is unclear from the story what DOH records exist before 1992. A 2006 story in the Brooklyn Paper quotes the DOH as saying rabid raccoons haven't been seen in Brooklyn "since at least 1992." Read the Post story here. In any event, Prospect Park and its colonies of raccoons and unleashed, out-of-control dogs without which the raccoons can "interact", aren't far away.

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From our correspondent:

Yesterday I walked down to Prospect Lake at 8am. I had planned to cross the ballfields, to avoid all the unleashed dogs (dogs aren't permitted on the ballfields, leashed or unleashed). Unfortunately, there were 14 unleashed dogs on the fields and surrounding sidewalks. There are signs all around the edges of the field that state the leash policy. Here is a picture of one:


There was a PEP patrol car at the edge of the lake. I told him about all the dogs on the field and he reiterated that they weren't permitted on the fields leashed or unleashed! Nothing would be done about it, however, because he told me that he was the only PEP officer on duty in the entire borough of Brooklyn that weekend. Here's a video of some of the dogs on the ballfields between 8am and 8:07am.

At 11am, a woman was running her dog off the leash on Nelly's Lawn, which is not an offleash area at all (not that it matters; at that hour the dog should have been leashed no matter where). Earlier I had encountered unleashed dogs on Breeze Hill, the Peninsula, Wellhouse Drive and the Lullwater, also not offleash areas, and also well after 9am.

At Rick's Place, between 11:15am and 11:19am I encountered 6 unleashed dogs. One dog owner quickly leashed her Dalmatian when she saw me shooting video of a couple with 3 unleashed dogs.

Between 11:25am and 11:35am there were no fewer than 12 unleashed dogs on the Long Meadow. I also noticed that every giant snowball, snowman and snow fort made been completely saturated with dog urine. Against the white background of snow, it was also obvious that few people clean up after their pets as dog feces were everywhere.