Park stewards search for suspect
Prospect Park Alliance investigating disappearance of seven swan eggs
BY COLIN MIXSON
Call it a hard-boiled mystery!
The city is investigating the
disappearance of seven swan
eggs from Brooklyn’s Backyard
last weekend, and the meadow’s
chief steward is asking local bird
watchers to share any information
they might have in an effort
to solve the mystery of the missing
cygnets.
“A key part of the Alliance’s
mission is to sustain our natural
areas as a habitat for wildlife,”
said Sue Donoghue, president
of the Prospect Park Alliance,
which maintains the green
space. “Prospect Park Alliance
and NYC Parks were distressed
to learn about the missing swan
eggs, and are investigating this
incident.”
The mute swan couple made
their nest near the Lullwater
Bridge north of Prospect Park
Lake about three weeks ago, and
Forestry, Wildlife and Aquatic
Technician Marty Woess — who
famously saved a wounded swan
frozen in Prospect Park Lake
last winter — has kept a watchful
eye on the doting parents and
their clutch of eggs ever since, according
to Deborah Kirschner, a
spokeswoman for the Prospect
Park Alliance.
But parkgoers noticed the
swans cruising along the surface
of the lake — and not guarding
their nest — over the weekend,
and Woess stopped by to confi rm
COURIER L 6 IFE, MAY 10–16, 2019 PS
that their eggs had been nabbed.
Neither the Alliance, nor
the city’s Parks Department
have identifi ed a suspect in
the dastardly egg-napping, although
— while investigators
aren’t ruling out woodland
predators — the tidiness of the
crime scene suggests that raccoons
are not to blame.
If sleuths from either the Urban
Park Rangers, the Parks Enforcement
Patrol, or the NYPD
identify a two-legged culprit,
they could be subject to misdemeanor
animal abuse charges
as punishment for the eggs’ theft,
according to Parks Department
spokeswoman Maeri Ferguson.
Had the eggs been left to
hatch, the fuzzy cygnets would
have graced the lake before the
end of May, and borough bird lovers
were bummed to hear they’d
miss out on the spectacle, according
to one avian fanatic.
“Everyone loves the babies,”
said Brooklyn Bird Club member
Stanley Greenberg. “They’re
so fl uffy and cute.”
Mute swans are considered an
invasive species by the state Department
of Environmental Conservation,
which in 2014 pushed
a plan to eradicate the aquatic
birds to protect the state’s ecosystem,
but quickly abandoned
the scheme in the face of intense
public outrage.
This isn’t the fi rst time wildlife
has vanished from Prospect
Park under mysterious circumstances.
A group of fi ve women
were spotted poaching turtles
from Prospect Park Lake in 2017.
Donoghue is asking anyone
with information on the eggs’ disappearance
to call 311, or email
the Alliance at info@prospectpark.
org.
COLD-HEARTED THEFT: One of Prospect Park’s swans with her eggs, before they suddenly disappeared sometime
last weekend. Prospect Park Alliance
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