On the other hand, if you go to Central Park, you'll see all sorts of sights you never thought you would, such as a Mandarin duck.
A flamboyantly-feathered mandarin duck has been hanging around in the pond there since October. As you'd figure, that's a kind of duck that's normally found in east Asia and parts of Europe. It didn't come from any zoo in the area, and park ranger Dan Tainow says it was probably someone’s pet. It could have also flown from either New Jersey or Long Island, although it's not known if it flew coach or first class.
At first the wildlife officials in NY said they planned to capture the duck for its own safety, but now they believe it's comfortable living in Central Park.
"The animal, from what we've seen and heard, is healthy. It's able to fly, it's able to feed, and it seems to be social with the other water fowl in the park. So, there's no risk of anything bad or negative happening, and the animal itself isn't hurt, from what we can see. So right now we're going to leave [it] alone," reads the statement from park officials.
They go on to say that people dump unwanted pets in the park up there, and it is illegal to keep a duck as a pet in New York. "A lot of people dump animals in the park, which is unfortunate... For example, red-eared sliders, they're not a native species of turtle, but they're a common house pet, and people will just put them in the park when they don't want them anymore. And that's a bad thing," say the rangers.
Rangers said the duck has a band on its leg, but no one has come forward claiming to be the animal's owner. Ducks are not legal to keep as pets in the state.
The city will capture the duck after all, if it shows any signs of injury or illness.
It's a cool-looking duck, is all I know. I hope he has a good winter. Holden Caulfield is not around to worry about the Central Park Ducks any more, remember.
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