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Turtles in Prospect Park Lake — Brooklynian

Turtles in Prospect Park Lake

garth
garth
edited November -1 in Park Slope

I'd like to start by asking two questions about the laws in Prospect Park:

1. If someone has a pet Red Eared Slider Turtle that they no longer wish to keep, are they allowed to just dump it in the Prospect Park Lake?

2. If someone sees a Red Eared Slider Turtle swimming in the Prospect Park lake and wishes to just grab it and take it home as a pet, is that allowed?

My opinion:

I don’t believe it should be legal to dump a pet Red Eared Slider Turtle in the Prospect Park Lake. By nature, Red Eared Sliders do not live in the Northeast. Therefore it is obvious that these Turtles were once purchased in Pet Store, and dumped in the lake. Red Eared Sliders from Pet Stores are not taken from the wild, but rather bred in facilities by people looking to sell them and make money. These people do not take good care of their Turtles, and often feed them food like raw chicken - which can lead to them having Salmonella. And Salmonella spreads throughout pond water, can potentially kill children, elderly adults, and other animals - including dogs. Salmonella has done just that, many times.

So what I’m ultimately getting at is this: Red Eared Sliders purchased in pet stores, should not be swimming in the same pond as Dogs.

Prospect Park does allow dogs to swim in the pond (during certain hours). So why should Red Eared Sliders be allowed in that pond? If someone must dump their pet Red Eared Slider in a pond in Brooklyn, then it’s much better that they walk a few blocks over and dump the Turtle in Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s pond or the Prospect Park Zoo’s pond (both of which dogs are not allowed to swim in).

So what if a person takes a turtle from the lake and brings it home as a pet? Well, then that person is taking a chance of bringing Salmonella to their home. But I’d say that action is in the pond’s best interest, for the dogs who swim there.

If it were up to me, I’d make it so the Prospect Park Rangers were forced to catch all the Red Eared Sliders in the Prospect Park Lake (or at least catch as many as possible) and transfer them to either the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens’ pond, or the Prospect Park Zoo’s pond.

Comments

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31

    Although I do not approve, my dog treats the sidewalks of Brooklyn like a giant, all-he-can-eat buffet. He is rarely sick, but I've got to imagine rancid food plays a role. He also regularly wades at Dog Beach, but I continue to believe this is among his least risky behaviors.

    As a result, I do not support the use of Parks employees time to pursue red eared turtles because I perceive their potential danger to be minimal.

    However, should you wish to catch red eared turtles, I would google turtle soup recipes for you, and ask you to let me know which recipe you preferred the most.

    Depending upon my mood, I might also catch a few red eared turtles, paint their ears brown, and then return them to the pond/lake. Although you are among the few who recognizes the public health hazards turtles present, you should not be able to eat them all.

  • salix
    salix

    Garth,

    You may have confused Prospect Park Lake at the southern part of the park with the Kettle Ponds near the Long Meadow in the western section. Dog Beach is at the edge of one of the Kettle Ponds. There are many possible sources of salmonella in the urban environment. To recommend that the already under-staffed and poorly paid park workers (of all ranks) spend their time wrangling turtles is unrealistic.

  • slopeduder
    slopeduder

    Salix said:

    There are many possible sources of salmonella in the urban environment.

    This. Salmonella can come from dog poop, bird/duck/goose poop, cat poop, squirrel poop, rat/mouse poop and even bug poop. To single out poop from chicken fed store turtles is pretty silly. It's probably in the ponds from other animals and probably long before any turtles were in there.

    (source: http://nyschap.vet.cornell.edu/module/salmonella/section3/SalmonellaTeachingSlides.pdf )

  • tateinbk
    tateinbk

    Red Eared Sliders are not native, but I believe Painted Turtles are. Anyone catching turtles would have to know the difference. If you want only native turtles in the ponds maybe we can bring in some snapping turtles?

    Besides, dogs are hardly native. If walking, swimming, and otherwise playing in water that also contains salmonella killed dogs they would be a short lived species.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31

    A few years ago, the federal government went after the Park's Geese because they were afraid of bird strikes on aircraft.

    This thread makes me wonder about the danger flying turtles in Prospect Park would present to planes, and whether the feds would intervene.

    Surely you remember Super Mario Brothers.


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