Giving a leg up to local wildlife

From QNS:

Ten ducklings that were trapped in a storm drain at a Howard Beach park caught a lucky break when they were rescued by officers of the U.S. Park Police and the NYPD.

On Thursday, June 15, U.S. Park Police Officers Cobaj and McGarry were patrolling in the park when a park visitor flagged them down and told them about some ducks that were stuck in a storm drain, which was located near the North Channel Bridge.

Upon their arrival, Officers Cobaj and McGarry saw ten ducklings stuck inside the drain. Officers from the 100th precinct and the emergency service unit helped Cobaj and McGarry lift the metal gate so they could get inside the gate.

Officer McGarry climbed down into the storm drain and was able to retrieve nine of the ten ducklings. The tenth duckling wandered further down the storm drain, but would later be coaxed out by 100th Precinct Sergeant Quwella Brown.

All of the ducks are said to be healthy and will most likely survive the experience. The ducks will be cared for by National Park Service Biologist Bill Parker until they are old enough to return to the park.

Second-Class Parks?

From City Hall:

On any given day, about 700 acres of New York City parkland—almost all of them in Manhattan—are patrolled by 78 parks enforcement officers, close to half of the parks department’s manpower. The remaining 86 officers are left to cover the other 28,000-plus acres.

The difference in staffing levels comes down to who’s footing the bill: the city or private parks conservancies.

As staffing for the city’s Parks Enforcement Patrol plummets due to an ongoing hiring freeze, a two-tiered system that favors affluent neighborhoods is being thrown into sharp relief. Hudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Washington Square Park and others are always well staffed, because private associations—not taxpayers—hire PEP officers. While Battery Park has some 30 officers, the entire borough of the Bronx has only 15—and officers say that official figure is higher than the reality.