In Sad, Strange Animal News: A Dead Bear Was Found in Central Park This Morning
Not the bear in question.
We don’t know about you but we never cease to be amazed whenever we see an undomesticated animal on the city’s streets that isn’t: a) a pigeon or b) a rat. We live close to Prospect Park, so we tend to see not a few raccoons and possums shuffling along, nosing their way into area garbage cans. (But not those new compost bins! Those are awesomely vermin-proof.) This lack of wildlife diversity (well, ok, there’s lots of different kinds of birds and, we suppose, bugs) is just part of the deal of living in New York, you know? This is a city most hospitable to one kind of mammal (by which we mean rats), not multitudes.
And so imagine our surprise when we heard a baby black bear was found in Central Park this morning! And then imagine our dismay when we learned that the baby bear was dead, and found under a bush near West 69th Street and West Drive. The Wall Street Journal reports that the bear was discovered by a Central Park Conservancy employee and that the site is being treated as a “crime scene”: “the creature suffered some trauma and has lacerations on its side. The Bronx Zoo will conduct necropsy to investigate further.”
The bear does not appear to have gone missing from any area zoos, and there is some speculation that it was left in Central Park after being injured elsewhere. (But where? Who would drive in from New Jersey or wherever just in order to abandon a baby bear carcass?? So many questions.) One thing is pretty clear in this sad, strange tale though: it’s only a matter of time before Andrea Peyser blames speeding cyclists or “terrorists in Spandex” for the bear’s death. Your move, Peyser.
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