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Seriously, Though: What The Hell Happened To That Subway Opossum?
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 19, 2012
Modified Jan 19, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 19, 2012
Modified Jan 19, 2012
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Yesterday life in New York City ground to a halt as New Yorkers pondered the possibility that the next time they ride the subway, there might very well be an opossum snarling under their seats. The story went viral, but it seems none of the online articles have any new information about the animal's fate, beyond what the Times reported. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the Times that animal control agents met the train in a subway yard next to the Grand Concourse in the Bronx... but Richard Gentles, the spokesman for Animal Care & Control, tells us, "AC&C was not involved in the removal of an opossum from a subway train on Friday, nor was one delivered to the shelter."
The MTA and the NYPD have both declined to comment on the opossum's whereabouts, so for all we know it's UNDER YOUR SEAT RIGHT NOW! Or, if you believe the Subway Possum Twitter feed, homeboy is laying low after raging a little too hard at the reopening of Jay-Z's 40/40 Club last night. (Questlove was also in attendance, and sources say he'll be collaborating with the party animal, who is now insisting everyone call him Ol' Dirty Possum.)
But regardless of whether this adorable opossum escaped into the rail yards or was quietly snuffed out by the NYPD, it's worth noting that we brought this upon ourselves. In 2007, the city brought opossums to Brooklyn as part of an attempt to curb the rat population. They eat rats, you see, and yesterday's opossum is believed to have boarded the D train near an area where opossums were introduced. Notes from a Community Board 15 meeting in 2007 read, "City brought possums in to take care of rats." And last year CB15 chairwoman Theresa Scavo told the Post the opossums "are everywhere...Didn't any of those brain surgeons realize that the opossums were going to multiply?"
Just relax Scavo; the city's brain surgeons will soon introduce mutant opossum-eating gorillas to solve all our problems!
Tagged
Animal Care and Control
d train
nyc
opossum
possum
subway
wildlife
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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