This site is closed to new comments and posts.

Notice: This site uses cookies to function.
If you are not comfortable with cookies then please don't browse this website.

Problems at Dog Beach in Prospect Park — Brooklynian

Problems at Dog Beach in Prospect Park

yankeefan
yankeefan
edited November -1 in Park Slope
Lately there’s been all these Rats running around the Dog Beach. Are the Park Rangers ever going to do anything about that? I really hope they use Rat Traps, and not Poisoning because I don’t want the Park Rangers accidentally poisoning the dogs.

Comments

  • anastasia beaverhausen
    anastasia beaverhausen
    I've never taken Oscar there - and after hearing this, I probably won't ever take him there. Fucking gross.

    Dogs will eat anything. It's hard enough to keep an eye on him at the park or just out on walks. I would never run the risk of him eating poison (if that's what they use/intend to use). He'd think the rats were just small dogs and try to play with them. He's not the brightest bulb on the tree.
  • kwar228
    kwar228

    Subject: lots of rats

    I've been noticing rats all over the park recently---every morning when i walk my dog, entering at grand army plaza i've seen at least 5 scurrying around, sometimes on the grass and sometimes on the paved path itself.
    Ech!
  • noisejoke
    noisejoke
    Picnic people leave tons of garbage. It's rat heaven! So, is water. However, they'll avoid dogs and people. And outlast us all.
  • opossumqueen
    opossumqueen
    During the three years I have frequented the park, I have seen rats on a pretty consistent basis. If you walk near the dog beach much after dark, you'll probably see or hear at least a few which also means a good rain probably washes a fair amount of rat crap into the dog beach water.

    My dog is an avid rodent stalker so he makes sure I notice a couple on most trips through the park.

    During these years, I've never seen traps/poison/or signs about poison in Prospect Park for rodents. I have seen signs about poison out in some of the smaller parks.
  • jah
    jah
    Be real careful with that. Dogs can catch a very deadly disease called leptosporosis from exposure to rat piss. They only need to walk on it and then lick their paws. I lost a dog to that and it ain't pretty. Leave the place alone.
  • noisejoke
    noisejoke
    So sorry about your pooch! The vaccine for that should be part of your vet's usual offering. I know our guys are protected.
  • bergenites
    bergenites
    A lot of dogs have bad reactions to the lepto vaccine, I know for a fact that one of my pup's relatives died from it, so his breeder warned us not to give it to him, and we haven't - but then again, we never go to the dog beach, and won't, now that I've read this! (Lepto is a horrible disease, but some dogs basically get the disease from the vaccine, which is why they shouldn't get it, and just be kept away from rats and garbage to the best of their owners ability. Also, vets and other dog-centric places usually know when there is an outbreak of lepto and will put up warnings),
  • opossumqueen
    opossumqueen
    Besides potentially making the dog sick, the lepto vaccine doesn't cover all strains of the virus, just a few of them. Our vet advised against it for this area, but I did a fair amount of reading myself and talked to the vets about it.
  • babel
    babel
    How about all the tickets that are given to dog owners at the 'Dog Beach' for having their dogs off lash. It is almost like entrapment.
  • ringrunner
    ringrunner
    Do rats eat dog poop?
  • rockhound
    rockhound
    Rats have been around the pond for, like, forever. I've always seen them around there.

    Also, it's not entrapment. If you have your dog off leash in Prospect Park between the hours of 9am and 9pm, you are breaking the law, pure and simple. I hate having to make this big detour around dog beach because of disobedient dog owners. I don't want muddy paws on my clothes..or on my dog's clothes..

    Do rats eat dog poop? Probably. :D

    /dog owner, thinks dog beach is disgusting and foul
  • yankeefan
    yankeefan
    Up until recently you were allowed to let your dog off the leash after 5pm in the Nethermead field. Now they don't even allow that anymore. The cops make money off giving out tickets to people without their dog on a leash.... It's terrible because that Dog Run in the Nethermead was really the nicest thing about Prospect Park a few years ago. Now it's been taken away from us.

    You'd think now the Rangers would at least make an effort to keep that tiny Dog Beach free of Rats, but they're not even doing that.... What are the Park Rangers even doing these days?
  • lo kee
    lo kee
    JAH wrote: Be real careful with that. Dogs can catch a very deadly disease called leptosporosis from exposure to rat piss. They only need to walk on it and then lick their paws. I lost a dog to that and it ain't pretty. Leave the place alone.
    I've heard of that. Had my dog vaccinated for it and he had a bad reaciton to the vaccine.

    But I thought it was treatable with antibiotics? I read that on a few reliable web sites, and then felt bad for getting the vacc done.
  • noisejoke
    noisejoke
    I'm fine with the Dog Beach being within the confined hours of Long Meadow Off Leash. People need to keep there dogs on leash while in the water until the law is changed.

    On the other hand, The Nethermead should be restored to 5pm, at least on weekdays (btw that recent ticketing that went around the web happened on a summer Sunday - the woman was just dumb or at least uninformed).

    You all can easily find the petition to restore the 5pm Nethermead exception with a Google search.
  • yankeefan
    yankeefan
    http://www.petitiononline.com/FIDO5to9/petition.html
  • noisejoke
    noisejoke
    Thank you, YF!!
  • lnelson
    lnelson
    back to the lepto thing...i've been keeping my dog away from the beach and actually mentioned this rumor to someone as i walked by and they were about to let their (very eager) corgi bound into the water. to all of y'all's knowledge, is there any special reason to be concerned about a lepto outbreak now - any history, recent cases, etc - beyond the contents of this posting?
  • jah
    jah
    lnelson wrote: back to the lepto thing...i've been keeping my dog away from the beach and actually mentioned this rumor to someone as i walked by and they were about to let their (very eager) corgi bound into the water. to all of y'all's knowledge, is there any special reason to be concerned about a lepto outbreak now - any history, recent cases, etc - beyond the contents of this posting?
    it can happen any time from exposure to rat or mouse piss so if there are alot of them around there must be alot of piss too.
  • yankeefan
    yankeefan
    Is there a phone number or e-mail address where we can contact the Prospect Park Rangers? We should all complain to them about the Rats at the Dog beach. The more of us complain, the better.
  • yankeefan
    yankeefan
    I got the contact info:
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Phone: (718) 965-8951

    Let’s all contact them and complain that we want them to do something about the Rats at the Dog Beach
  • opossumqueen
    opossumqueen
    um, I think it's already in the works. Local journalists love to get stories from boards like this and this story got an article (I'm guessing I'm not the only one from this thread that was contacted about the acticle).

    http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/34/31_34_ml_dogs.html
Sign In or Register to comment.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In

Categories