Animal Remains in Prospect Park: Santeria or Just Butchery?

Wally G's Flickr

If you're still eating your breakfast burrito, you may want to skip this one: Chicken heads, feet, and "the entrails of a large animal" have been revolting visitors to Prospect Park in recent weeks, and no one knows who's behind the butchery. Most of the remains have been gathered at one spot near the lakebed at the southwest corner of the park, and at least eight chicken heads were recently found, plus intestines and chicken feet. "It was so gross," local Susan Yuen tells the Brooklyn Paper, in an article packed with great quotes. "I saw a chicken head, it started to smell as [a Parks employee] pulled it all out of the water!"

"It was quite repulsive," says another observer, Bonita Makuch. "With a pile that big, it seems to me you’d have to do a lot of killing to get that many guts." And frequent park visitor Ed Bahlman caught a small moment of animal slapstick arise from the revolting scene: "The chicken’s neck was stretched out facing the lake on the rocks — the head was in the water. No feathers, just flesh. A swan ended up knocking the head into the lake."

Dog owners are cautioned to keep their pets away from the lake. "Your dog wants to drink the water, and it’s dangerous," warns Bob Ipcar, a member of the dog advocacy group FIDO. "Everybody wants to feed the ducks, and there are chicken heads floating around. They need to come and rake this stuff out." Bahlman's worried the lake is now poisoned, and says the swans and geese that usually flock to eat breadcrumbs have been staying away: "They’re afraid. They know something is wrong. They’ve seen so much."

This is hardly the first time visitors to NYC parks have been revolted by animal remains. Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx has seen its share of gross-outs, and some speculate that they're leftover from Santeria rituals. A Parks official thinks Santeria may be involved here, but Bahlman disagrees because "there was no blood, unlike last time. Now, they’re dumping dead animals in the park. I do not believe this was a sacrifice."

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By John Del Signore in News on March 24, 2010 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

snickerdoodle

no one knows who's behind the butchery

Please. Everybody knows that Brooklyn is full of Caribbeans who use and abuse these poor creatures in their voodoo ceremonies.

Tricksta

I'd prefer to see Sarah Palin slaughtered in full view of the general public.

robingee

Can't they slaughter birds away from the general public, like Perdue, Tyson or Sarah Palin does?

lornagrl

I used to live in Brighton Beach and would see dead roosters on the beach all the time. It's very creepy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lornagrl/3562714231/

potsmoker

when you say butchery do you mean slaughter of animals for food or some kind of poultry holocaust?

i can easily see some third worlders who barbque around the lake buying a whole chicken and dressing it up right there, tossing the heads and guts into the water.

imagine this scenario played out all over the city...

random mcnuggets, and chicken wings from a 4 piece floating around the lake...

is that horrible news?? nope, its just news when people dont use animals the way you do, neatly wrapped in plastic on a foam tray with a price tag, or served in a bucket with a biscuit & fries....yeah boohoo someones killing animals, but its perfectly ok to walk into the park with a mcdonalds supersize burger or a 10 piece of KFC...hahhaaha

HOTCUP

JDS I probably should have never told you about santeria in pelham bay, now you're just going to relate anything remotely similar to santeria. i'd say it's naive, but i think you just enjoy the idea too much.

just remember that people legitimately believe in this religion. i know gothamist has a long tradition of treating everybody who doesn't live in western brooklyn as "the other," but all i ask is that you try and be conscious of it.

Jamie McDonald

Oh, so as long as someone legitimately believes in something, that excuses it, and we all need to "be conscious" and understanding of it. Thanks for sorting that out.

Boogie Down

Just because people legitimately believe in this religion doesn't make animal torture legitimate. That goes for all the crazy crap that people do in the name of their respective religions.

Also, I live around yahoos who practice this mythology and believe that these findings in Prospect Park are the result of Santeria.