City and federal parks authorities are beefing up resources near Jamaica Bay in Queens following The Post’s expose last week of surging animal sacrifices in the area.
The National Parks Service promised to install a pair of mobile lights by the Addabbo Bridge in the federally-managed Spring Creek Park to ward off people torturing and killing animals under the cover of darkness, Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) announced.
NPS spokeswoman Daphne Yun said the agency would also provide additional parks police patrol in the area, where animal rescuers said at least eight animals were found dead or maimed since late July.
These have included five wounded pigs, a near-dead baby rat stuffed in a bag with chicken bones, and a dog carcass with its neck snapped.
The city’s Parks Department also pledged to increase overnight patrols in Sunset Cove Park, Broad Channel, where gruesome animal remains also have been found, Ariola’s office said.
“I’ve gotten in touch with my partners at both the federal and city level, and we are going to bring a new level of enforcement to the area and really crack down on this sickening behavior,” Ariola told The Post. “Animals should not be getting tortured and mutilated for any reason. This ends now.”
Sloane Quealy, president of Zion’s Mission Animal Rescue, called the additional enforcement resources a “great first step,” but called for more patrols.
“Until then we’re going to do 12 a.m. to 6 a.m., we’re going to walk the beach, just to see about interrupting anything that’s going on,” she said.