Electeds want to stop Kissena Park poachers

From the Village Voice:

Earlier today in Flushing, Assembly members Grace Meng and Rory Lancman, and park advocate Beverly McDermott, said the theft of flora and fauna remains especially egregious in Kissena Park.

McDermott, the president of the Kissena Park Civic Association and unofficial mayor of the park, has witnessed people leaving with coolers full of turtles and fish from the park's pond, and come upon hidden snares. And, she said, thieves are not just looking for food. It appears some are looking for beauty too, and are "luxury" poaching. Hundreds of daffodil bulbs planted one day have disappeared by the next day. (Note to the thief, before he/she gets any ideas: Daffodils are poisonous to humans.)

Lancman announced that in the next two weeks "Please do not harm or remove wildife" signs in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean will be posted around the park. The Parks Department has not wanted to post similar warnings in Central Park in the past, to avoid giving markers of where all the best treats can be scavenged.

Lancman also called for the Parks Department to step up the loosely enforced $250 fines against illegal foraging.

And to perpetrators: "Stop treating the park like their personal salad bar," Lancman admonished. After detailing the array of adorable -- and possibly mouthwatering -- bounty that calls Kissena Park home: fish, turtles, rabbit, pheasants, he warned: "That's not your personal buffet table."