Forget giant rats or pizza-loving, petting zoo poseurs: feral boars are just (300) miles away in sleepy Peru, New York, feasting on apples and other crops and copulating like, well, pigs that start having sex at the age of six months. “There’s a real sense of urgency,” Ed Reed, a biologist at the DEC tells the Times. “Once the pigs get established, they are very difficult to eradicate completely.” When will Governor Cuomo follow Texas' lead and allow us to kill them with automatic weapons from helicopters? more ›

Andrew Cuomo has made it clear he wants to bring hydraulic fracturing, or hydro fracking (in which natural gas is extracted from the Marcellus Shale formation, often leaving nearby water flammable), to our state and today the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation went and released a revised draft report on the prospect. Which means we've all now got a 90-day public comment period (30 days more than usual) before this thing moves forward, so be prepared to hear a frack load more about fracking in the next three months! more ›

Remember how there was a beautiful—and huge—mountain lion killed by an SUV in Connecticut last month? And it turned out that the cat had walked all the way from South Dakota? Now it turns out the mountain lion made its way through NY State's Lake George—and that state Department of Environmental Conservation officials knew it was there but never told local officials that a 140-pound predatory cat was in their midst. Classic Albany! more ›

The $150 million reconstruction project on the two mile esplanade between East River park and Battery Park was supposed to be done last year, but you know the drill. Two thirds of the promenade still have a long way to go, and last year the state Department of Environmental Conservation fined the city and contractor Pile Foundation Construction Company $200,000 because workers were allowing the shoreline to erode into the water. Now a DEC spokesman says the company hasn't fixed the problem and the agency wants to revoke the work permit. When asked by the Villager when the project is now expected to be completed, the foreman laughed and said he didn’t know: "New York City isn’t exactly the fastest people in the world." more ›

Newsday reports that the "elusive alligator" that has been seen in Hewlett creek for weeks was caught by Ron Settino, a 63-year-old bass fisherman. He said, "I've been hunting this guy for a while now. Considering the fact that he doesn't belong here, I really wanted to get him out." Apparently the 33-inch (but very dangerous) alligator bit an artificial lure, and another fisherman helped pick it up. Settino added, "The alligator was good. He really cooperated big time." The Department of Environmental Conservation, which had been trying to catch the reptile for weeks, picked up the alligator and it will be taken to an animal sanctuary. It's believed that the alligator was an illegal pet that escaped or was released. more ›