least one duck was dragged down the drain by a raccoon.
Where have the ducks gone?
That is the question the Great Neck Park District staff are anxiously asking. The Park District found the duck population at Allenwood Park dwindling and recently replenished the peaceful duck pond with a dozen of the beautiful, delicate creatures.
Then the ducks began to “disappear.” Just last week, area resident Bob Cummings called the Great Neck Record asking for advice in helping to “rescue” a duck stuck in a storm drain. The duck kept “disappearing.”
Cummings’ daughter had just been out walking her dog when she saw a raccoon swipe a duck and drag it to a near-by storm drain. Both the duck and the raccoon disappeared down the drain.
When Cummings went back to hopefully locate the missing duck, he saw it down one of three connecting storm drains. So he called the Record which helped put the Park District on the case.
Park District Superintendent Peter Renick immediately sent out park district staff, who counted the ducks in the Allenwood Pond and found two missing.
They checked the near-by storm drains, where pipes connect the drains, and where the duck and the raccoon were last spotted. Not a sign of any animal was discovered. Hoping to save the innocent park ducks, Renick told the Record that he sent trappers to the area to hopefully rescue the “lost” duck.
The traps worked, sort of … the trappers caught a raccoon. But so far, the canny ducks have eluded the traps and the trappers.
Reports to the Record tell of a duck spotted a few times when someone peers down a drain, but the sight of someone watching quickly chases that lone duck deeper into the drain system.
As of press time, the Allenwood Pond duck population had dwindled even further and there are no longer any signs of any ducks down the drain. Neighborhood raccoons remain the primary suspects.
