By Stephen Stirling
A bear in College Point?
It sounds crazy, but a quick assumption made by a police helicopter hovering over Flushing Airport last month quickly made its way to members of the northern Queens community.
Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, police were searching for a man who fled after shooting out the window of a storefront on 20th Avenue. Police from the 109th Precinct called in air support, concerned that the suspect had run into the dense vegetation that now grows over what was once Flushing Airport, It has been abandoned since 1984.
Using infrared cameras, officers in the NYPD helicopter came across something large that was roaming the grounds of the two−dozen acre site and quickly radioed what it appeared to be: a bear.
“At that time, they picked up the image, and it comes in distorted and the guy radioed over that they thought it might be a bear. Later they said it was probably a dog,” said Detective Kevin O’Donnell of the 109th Precinct. “It’s the kind of thing that you say on first reaction, but then you realize later is a little ridiculous.”
But with that radio broadcast, the rumors began to swirl. Did it escape from a zoo? Hitch a ride with an unknowing upstate trucker? Swim over from Connecticut?
The Queens Zoo, located a few miles to the southeast, is home to an Andean bear, but it remained accounted for. The prospect of one of the Bronx Zoo’s bears taking a lengthy swim across the East River seemed even less likely.
Nonetheless, several residents of College Point told TimesLedger Newspapers over the several weeks since that they had heard that police had shot a bear in the abandoned airfield.
“One of the officers from the 109th told the story at my civic meeting,” said new 109th Community Council President Chrissy Voskerichian.
“Apparently, a pilot picked something up on an infrared reading and reported it to 911. Everyone was saying it was big and maybe a bear, but it turned out to be a large dog. No one shot at it.”
She added: “I think the entire episode only amounted to being a funny story that took on a life of its own as the story passed from one person to another. It was actually pretty funny. I’m glad it isn’t true. Bears in Flushing would not be a welcome sight.”
While any species of bear may be a stretch for College Point, the city is not immune from non−city dwelling wildlife. Larger mammals like coyotes and deer are frequently sighted within the five boroughs, especially in more rural sections of the city like much of Queens. Otis the coyote, an attraction at Queens Zoo, was originally found wandering through Central Park in Manhattan several years ago.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.
