Bed-Stuy goldfish pond leaves residents divided amid questions whether the new addition is a work of art, an attempt at beautification in the increasingly gentrified neighborhood or ultimately animal cruelty?
A makeshift goldfish pond in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood has left residents divided, amid accusations of animal cruelty while others insist the ‘project’ was meant to bring the community together.
Fissure came after local Brooklyn residents in the now highly gentrified ‘hood’ decided to turn a corner leaky fire hydrant into an impromptu aquarium.
Video posted on social media showed dozens of goldfish swimming in shallow waters along with debris in the sidewalk tree pit on the corner of Tompkins Avenue and Hancock st. Where rampant drug peddling and fast street hustling once existed (the author used to live across the road two decades ago) now existed a cache of ‘groovy cafes, boîtes, galleries and now a street fish pond.’
Observers and passerbys have pondered and wondered whether the DIY pond is a ‘prank, art, beautification? While others have called it ‘beautiful’ and maintained that it should be left alone.
But not everyone was necessarily in favour of the new addition to the scene.
Speaking to the Associated Press, local residents, Emily Campbell and Max David, interceded in what they called a ‘heist’ to rescue some of the fish on Wednesday from displays of ‘animal cruelty.’
Using nets and plastic bags, they pulled about 30 fish from the two-inch deep waters.
‘I’m very aware of the optics of a white yuppie coming here and telling this man who’s lived in the neighborhood his whole life that he doesn’t know what he’s doing,’ Campbell told the Associated Press.
‘I do sympathize with that. I just don’t want to watch 40 fish suffocate in a puddle from their own waste.’
‘We tried to explain to them that we’re on the same side, we love the idea of having the fish for the neighborhood, unfortunately it’s harmful to the fish themselves,’ David said.
meet me at the bedstuy koi pond pic.twitter.com/TaryFovo0R
— max (@pipecork) August 7, 2024
The architect of the makeshift Bed-Stuy goldfish pond, Jequan Irving, 47, has defended the manmade pond. Speaking to the nytimes, Irving told how he and his neighbors bought 100 common goldfish from a nearby pet store for $16 and dumped them into the pool of fire hydrant water dubbing it the ‘Bed-Stuy Goldfish Pond.’
‘We all just came together to do something different for the community. We decided to spice it up,’ he told the outlet. ‘It’s the lowest-maintenance fish that you can use. We’re going to put some algae in here, underground lights in here.’
Irving and his neighbors insist they are not abusing the fish and they take turns making sure they are cared for.
‘We bought these fish, and we fixed up this little spot, using our hard-earned money,’ Irving said. ‘And they came and stole them.’
Residents said they feed the fish three times per day and take shifts watching over them.
‘I feel like we’re helping the goldfish,’ resident Hajj-Malik Lovick, 47, told the nytimes. ‘These people came here and just want to change things.’
While goldfish are resilient, they need treated, clean water, that’s frequently changed in order to survive.
Veterinarian Julius Tepper, who runs the Long Island Fish Hospital, told NBC New York there are dangers to keep the fish in the makeshift pond.
Only in New York…people dumped goldfish into a puddle on a Brooklyn sidewalk (Bed-Stuy near Tompkins & Hancock). The city has fixed the leaking hydrant & told the people involved to find a better place for the fish #nyc #brooklyn @NBC New York #strange #onlyinnewyork #onlyinnyc pic.twitter.com/F7M7rzDLZu
— Jesse Hamilton (@JesseJHamilton) August 8, 2024
‘You’ve got issues with pollution that could be a problem. You’ve got issues with predatory birds,’ Tepper said.
‘There is a possibility they will survive, although it’s certainly not an ideal habitat.’
Actually zero possibility. Let’s be real. The goldfish have the ignominy of being born into a waiting trap, either a goldfish bowl or the wanton attention and feeder of predatory food chain.
Department of Environmental Protection crews came on Thursday to shut of the trickling fire hydrant, but Irving quickly returned to unseal the valve.
‘Once the temperature and everything starts changing, we are going to take them out and give them to kids in the community,’ he said.
A fancy idea no doubt. But be careful of the squirrel, squawking birds, black alley cats and stray dogs, nevermind the summer children plucking them out with their bare hands and throwing them as hard as they can against the concrete pavement… cause they can.
