Strange and Unusual Calls

[Richard B the EMT]

On another string, "Replying to the 'S', 'B' and the 'Q' words", somehow we went off topic with discussions of strange calls. One poster mentioned a Lion Attack on it's keeper, and I mentioned the boy who jumped the fence at the zoo, and was eaten by the bears.

In that tradition of call retelling that the general public wouldn't think true, I add the following:

Some years ago, the Clyde Beatty/Cole Brothers Circus was at Forest Park (Forest Hills, Queens County, NY), when something happened that spooked the elephants. The child of one of my co-workers was in attendance that evening.

EMS was on standby, when the report of the elephants breaking out of their chains during a performance was made. The official line was, one elephant basically decided to go on an unauthorized walk. My co-worker's son said the crew stopped the elephant just before it attacked some audience members, and the beast was described by him as having gone berzerk.

More recently, the circus came back to Forest Park, when FDNY, FDNY EMS, and NYPD Emergency Services units, were called in for an escaped tiger! The animal got out of an unsecured cage, and took a walk in the woods, eventually parking himself by the roadside of the Jackie Robinson/Interboro Parkway, watching the traffic. The "Big Cat" itself caused no injuries, but several drivers, startled by seeing a tiger sitting by the roadside, received minor injuries from collisions running their cars into each other due to the tiger distraction.

My colleague's son no longer attends circuses, for some reason.

This one I was a part of. The "V" man and I responded to a large old person's apartment complex (24 stories high), reportedly hit by a small aircraft. We reported "nothing showing", when an NYPD ESU "small boy" truck screamed by us, even as we were transmitting. I continued the broadcast by saying "ESU just passed us, and we're grabbing his mud flaps to find out where he's going. We'll give a '12' (incident update report) when we have something". We ended up going over the Atlantic Beach Bridge, out of our area (we are the Fire Department of New York City, after all) into Atlantic Beach, Nassau County. We followed them to find a small airplane sitting on the beach, a few blocks from the bridge. We'd later be told the plane was a single engine, 1930s monoplane, and the engine's carborator had "frozen". The plane had almost hit the senior's building while trying unsuccessfully to restart the engine. The pilot had made a beautiful no power landing on wet sand, but then abandoned the 4 seater.

Why did the pilot leave the aircraft? With 3 seats removed, and the small cargo space within the tail, the plane was full of illegal recreational pharmaceuticles!

Sometime after dark, the Nassau County PD 4th Precinct caught up with the pilot, and arrested him. I thought someone would repair the engine and fly the bird out, but an NCPD jeep towed it alongside the boardwalk, and a crane lifted it over the boardwalk to a large flatbed truck, which removed it from the area.

[Richard B the EMT]

The co-worker, who's son I mentioned, just contacted me on FaceBook, amazed I remembered the elephant incident from roughly 15 years ago.

From

http://www.pawsweb.org/incidents.pdf

July 10, 1995: In Queens, New York, during the opening night performance of the Clyde-Beatty Cole Brothers Circus at the Forest Park Bandshell parking lot, an elephant, Debbie, bumped into an elephant, Frieda, who was next to her in a 9-elephant chain. The two elephants scuffled, upsetting all the elephants and setting off a panic among spectators who began running. Twelve people were injured. Debbie and Frieda bolted out of the entrance to the tent and smashed a parked car in their attempt to make a path out of the lot. Finally, placed in chains, the elephants were herded back to their pen and the show continued without them. Frieda and Debbie had run amok in Pennsylvania two months earlier and Frieda is also blamed for the 1985 and 1993 deaths and injuries of three spectators at the circus. Lawsuit filed.

See incidents: May 25, 1983; July 7, 1985; March 16, 1995.

and the tiger...

(from MSNBC...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5574066/)

Escaped tiger causes brief scare in NYC

Apollo recaptured after breaking loose from circus

Jennifer Szymaszek / AP Apollo rests in his cage after escaping for nearly 30 minutes from the Coles Bros. Circus in the Queens section of New York on Saturday.

updated 11:13 a.m. ET, Sun., Aug 1, 2004 NEW YORK - After escaping from the circus, a white tiger alarmed picnickers and motorists Saturday on what for him apparently was a calm, half-mile stroll through an unfamiliar urban jungle.

The animal, named Apollo, was safely recaptured in the Queens section of the city — but not before the sight of him on the Jackie Robinson Parkway caused a multi-car accident. Four adults and one child suffered minor injuries.

When the tiger lay down on a nearby street, six police officers with guns drawn created a perimeter around it, Capt. John Durkin said. The tiger’s trainer arrived and coaxed it back into his cage.

“They did some type of signal, and the tiger jumped into the cage,” Durkin said. “The tiger was taken into custody without incident. The 7-year-old, 450-pound tiger is part of the Cole Bros. Circus that was performing in Forest Park.

The cat was being transferred from a small cage to a larger one when the two enclosures separated, creating an opening big enough for him to get out, police and parks officials said.

Apollo calmly prowled through a section of the park, walking past Mary Mason and other people at a church picnic.

“We were all in shock,” Mason said. “Here we are, out on a quiet Saturday afternoon picnic and all of a sudden, a tiger is walking past like he was on a quiet afternoon stroll.”

Durkin said police followed the animal for about a half-mile from the park to a residential street near the Jackie Robinson Parkway. The tiger had apparently strolled through some streets and stepped on to the parkway before settling in on the street where the police found him, police said.

The Florida-based circus was cited for creating an animal nuisance. Circus officials declined to comment on the incident.

It’s not the only time police have had to deal with a tiger in the city. Last October, police and animal control officers removed a nearly 600-pound tiger and a 5-foot-long alligator from a Manhattan apartment.

“Police have no special training on how to deal with tigers,” Durkin said. “Based on this tiger and the last tiger, we may have to incorporate something into our training.”

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Richard B the EMT

[Richard B the EMT]

And then, 2 New York Times articles on the Bears...

May 20, 1987

POLAR BEARS KILL A CHILD AT PROSPECT PARK ZOO

By JAMES BARRON Two polar bears mauled and killed an 11-year-old boy who climbed a fence at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn with two friends last night and then sneaked into the polar bear enclosure.

Four police officers shot and killed both of the bears as the animals tugged at the dead boy's body, said the city's Parks Commissioner, Henry J. Stern. The police said it took 20 blasts from 12-gauge shotguns firing rifled slugs and six bullets from a .38-caliber revolver to bring down the animals, which stood 8 feet tall and weighed more than 900 pounds.

A police spokesman, Officer Peter O'Donnell, said the dead boy and two other boys scaled an outside fence shortly before 7 P.M. The 11-acre zoo had been closed for hours. The boys intended to go wading in the moat that is just inside the enclosure where the bears were sleeping.

Officer O'Donnell said the dead boy, identified as Juan Perez, of 162 East 19th Street in Brooklyn, had climbed over a high spiked fence separating the bears' enclave from the public viewing area. One of the other boys worked his way through the bars of the fence, he said.

The third boy decided not to go wading in the moat and remained outside the enclosure, although he had taken off his trousers. A Gruesome Sight

Looking forward to a dip in the two-foot deep moat, Juan and the other boy stacked their shoes and trousers in neat piles.

Moments before he was mauled, Juan and his friend tossed their trousers onto some rocks on the far side of the 10-foot-wide moat. The two animals were apparently startled awake by what they considered to be intruders trespassing on their territory. One of them clambered down a rocky cliff toward the moat and stared at Juan, Officer O'Donnell said.

The other bear followed seconds later and lunged at Juan, dragging him off to the bears' den. The other boy managed to escape.

''It's just horrendous,'' Mayor Koch said after walking through the bears' dens, which sit atop a 25-foot rock cliff that rises above the moat. ''A gruesome site, not describable.''

The police went to the bear enclosure, near busy Flatbush Avenue, after a woman called the 911 emergency number at 7 P.M. and said she heard children screaming inside the zoo. Officers Locked Out

The officers found the zoo gates locked and spent 20 minutes finding a groundskeeper to let them in, Officer O'Donnell said. Before the gates were unlocked, he said, they saw two partially clothed children near the bear enclosure and yelled at them to wait. But the pair ran off, Officer O'Donnell said. They were not immediately identified.

As soon as they reached the bear enclosure, a rectangular area in the heart of the zoo, the officers saw the bears pulling at Juan's body. The officers immediately called in the Emergency Service unit officers, who fired the fusillade that killed the animals.

''I think the kid was probably dead by then,'' Officer O'Donnell said. ''All the officers saw when they got in was the two polar bears mauling the remains.''

Officer O'Donnell said the officers opened fire because the information they had received from the 911 call was that three children were in the zoo. They believed that two others might have been in danger even though they did not see them when they arrived, he said.

Mr. Stern said that the dead boy's rib cage had been torn open. He said the bears had apparently devoured the child's legs before being shot.

''They were not executed,'' Mr. Stern said, referring to the bears. ''There seems to be no question but the police did the right thing in the circumstances.''

When asked what might provoke such an attack, Mr. Stern said, ''The mere presence of people in their cage.'' He said polar bears are territorial and vicious by nature, but that these two -Teddy and Lucy - had never attacked anyone before. He said they were fed twice a day, the last time at 2:30 P.M., about 5 hours before the attack. Security in Question

At first, officials were puzzled as to how the boys got into the zoo. They said they did not know whether they had been hiding out and escaped the attention of a Parks Department security team that swept through the zoo after it closed at 5 P.M., or whether they had broken into the zoo only minutes before the fatal encounter.

But after the two boys' parents took them to the police after they arrived home without their pants and shoes, the two told detectives that they had broken into the zoo shortly before dark.

Mayor Koch was asked whether security at the zoo should be tightened. ''There isn't a single enclosure that if you are desirous of coming into, you can't break in,'' he said. ''There are limits as to how secure you can make a facility.''

The zoo superintendent, Pat Spina, said that polar bears, were more vicious than grizzlies but that Teddy and Lucy had always been well behaved. Even so, he said, ''They could have had a full meal and they would have done the same thing.'' The bears' diet consisted of 27 pounds of meat a day, officials said. 'Extremely Dangerous'

Animal behavioral experts said the two bears had behaved naturally when they attacked the child. ''They're predators and extremely dangerous animals in the wild, and there's no reason to believe they'd be less so in captivity,'' said Dr. Peter Borchelt, an animal behavioral consultant in Forest Hills, Queens.

Commissioner Stern said it was the first fatal incident involving a bear in a New York City zoo in five years.

On Sept. 26, 1982, a 29-year-old man was found dead inside the polar bear cage at the Central Park Zoo. He had apparently climbed a series of fences to get inside the cage and was killed by Scandy, a 1,200-pound bear.

The preceding day, guards had watched the man as he walked up to the cages, trying to get close to the animals. Each time, the man was chased away. Four and a half hours after the zoo had closed for the day, he was spotted inside by a night watchman and was led out.

As he was led away that time, according to officials, the man said, ''Help me.'' But he walked away when a watchman offered to take him to a shelter for the homeless.

The Prospect Park Zoo, where yesterday's incident occurred, was built in the 1930's under the supervision of Robert Moses. Mr. Stern said it will be closed in the next year and modernized under an $18 million reconstruction plan. He said the zoo has a staff of 40 people, including keepers and cage-cleaners.

.........................................................................................................................................................

May 21, 1987

BOY ENTERED BEARS' AREA ON A DARE

By JESUS RANGEL Correction Appended The 11-year-old boy who was killed by two polar bears at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn Tuesday night entered the enclosure on a dare, the police said yesterday.

The boy, Juan Perez, and two companions had dared each other to go swimming in the moat bordering the polar bear den. According to park officials, their presence was the most recent of frequent intrusions after hours into the zoo by youths who climb the fences surrounding the zoo and congregate on the grounds.

When the police responded to reports of screams at the zoo, they found the two bears - each over 8 feet and weighing more than 900 pounds - tussling over the boy's body and fired 20 shotgun blasts to kill them. The shootings caused numerous calls to the police yesterday by animal lovers.

Capt. Michael Julian, a police spokesman, said the boys initially intended to go to the seal pool in a nearby enclosure after scaling an outside fence near the Flatbush Avenue entrance before 7 P.M. Bears Confront Child

But on a dare from one of them, they went to the bear cage where they intended to go wading in the moat that is just inside the enclosure where the bears were sleeping. Captain Julian refused to identify the companions, who are 10 and 11, or to say which one initially issued the dare. Captain Julian gave this account: The boys took off their pants and shoes. Juan threw the clothes over the fence into the lair and climbed over a high spiked fence separating the bears' enclave from the public viewing area.

Juan and one companion then entered the area near the 10-foot-wide moat. The two animals, apparently awakened by what they considered to be intruders, clambered down a rocky cliff toward the moat, where one lunged at Juan, dragged him into the den and engaged in a tug-of-war over the body before being shot with 12-gauge shotguns and a .38-caliber revolver. Illegal Entries at Zoo

Only minutes after the youths entered the cage, security guards who had been on the lookout for people who intrude into the zoo after hours were due to patrol the area, said Henry J. Stern, the city's Parks Commissioner.

He said that there had been about 14 reported illegal entries into the zoo since 1984 and that employees regularly have to chase youths attempting to scale the fence after closing.

''It's closed off at 5, but sometimes kids do walk through it after hours,'' Mr. Stern said. ''But it's never led to a tragedy. People tend to behave themselves.''

Mr. Stern said he hoped that the incident would help reshape people's perceptions about bears.

''People see bears as funny eating, tender loving creatures,'' he said. ''But polar bears are carnivorous animals and highly protective of their territory. In romance, we've overlooked the fact that they are highly dangerous animals.'' Stronger Safety Measures

He said that there is one night watchman who is assisted by a security team that drives around the zoo checking for intruders.

The last security check at the bears' den was made between 5:15 P.M. and 5:35 P.M., Mr. Stern said, and the next check was due two hours later.

He said John Ciaffone, the parks department's inspector general, was conducting an investigation to determine exactly how the youths entered the zoo and what can be done to prevent more illegal entries.

The incident led to hundreds of irate phone calls to the police and parks department protesting the shooting of the animals. Police See 2 Children Run Away

Deputy Police Commissioner Alice T. McGillion said most of the callers were not well informed on the circumstances surrounding the shooting. She said the police received an initial report on the 911 emergency system at 7 P.M. of children screaming in the zoo.

After being let onto the zoo grounds by a groundskeeper, the police saw two children walking toward them, but the pair ran off, Ms. McGillion said.

The officers then walked to the bears' den, where they saw Juan's dismembered body. They also saw the clothing nearby and the bears with blood on them.

''There was no question that he was dead,'' Ms. McGillion said. ''But the presence of the clothing indicated that other children might be involved. The officers assumed that perhaps the children were hiding or were injured in the cage.'' Decision to Shoot the Bears

She said a decision was made immediately to shoot the bears. Four officers used 20 blasts from 12-gauge shotguns firing rifled slugs and six bullets from a .38-caliber revolver to bring down the bears.

She said that officers do have tranquilizer bullets, but that they are designed for small animals, such as dogs.

Park officials also said that there have been some instances in which the animals were attacked by humans.

William Kapps, director of human law enforcement for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that as designed now, at the Prospect Park Zoo, which was built in the 1930's, ''the people are adequately protected, but animals are not protected from pedestrians who can throw things in cages.''

[HERBIE1]

Sounds like an epidemic, Richard... LOL

[Richard B the EMT]

Don't know the veracity, but just found, on Facebook, the following:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=469717429707586&set=a.176067925739206.44927.100000080005727&type=1&theater

[BillKaneEMT]

I liked the tiger story:) and it is funny how you remembered the elephant one after 15 years. You New Yorkers get some wacky calls! The bear story was slightly annoying, not because it happened (I fully comprehend the lack of good decision making skills displayed by people of all ages) but because the Times author of the piece says some really stupid things.

''People see bears as funny eating, tender loving creatures,'' Really? People do? First of all, those kids apparently did it on a dare. It was a bad decision,, as kids (and adults) sometimes make but I doubt they considered the bears as funny eating tender loving creatures or they wouldn't have bothered with the dare. It's a damn shame and I don't want to make light of it but does the New York Times paper have any editors? FFS, no sane person above the age of 5 should EVER think of bears as "funny eating, tender loving creatures,''. Ever. Period. I guess they should publicize the photos of what's left of bear attack victims. Like 3 inches of ankle and a foot still inside the boot. And a lot of blood on the snow. Sorry but that's a ridiculous statement. Anyone who sees bears as anything other than large, omnivorous(carnivorous in the case of polar bears), wild, potentially deadly animals is insane. I get that kids can make that sort of mistake (curse you Disney!) but saying "People" think that is either shoddy journalism or pure insanity. Let's try an experiment. A 1500 pound adult male polar bear with a mouthful of razor edged teeth, sharp claw tipped paws the size of dinner plates and a pissed off expression is right in front of you. 2 of the 5 words in the phrase "funny eating, tender loving creatures,' should apply here, you pick em. I don't want to pull a Dwight from The Office here but bears are not cute furry little critters. I have some pics my buddy Steve sent me from his home in Alaska a couple years back following the discovery of a bear attack victim that would turn almost any stomach. two thirds of a torso, a foot(in a boot), and part of an arm. They were, unsurprisingly, not in good shape. Never trust a bear. I may get that tattooed somewhere. Damn bears.

Anyway, I'll end the ranting. These calls were pretty cool:) I have yet to run into anything so interesting but I'm sure I'll come across something to add to this list in years to come. Excellent topic:)

Also:

That's right, a bear attacked Chuck Norris! The audacity! At least it redeemed itself I suppose.