By Gus Saltonstall
For the past couple of weeks, someone has been dumping an orange powder, possibly paprika or cayenne pepper, at the entrance to a lawn on Riverside Drive, according to a West Side Rag reader who wrote to the site and an Upper West Side social media forum.
Along with the note from the tipster, warning signs posted at the entrance to the UWS green space this week, allege that whoever is dumping the powder appears to be bothered by dogs in the area.
The saga is unfolding within a small island park at West 112th Street and Riverside Drive, which has a sign proclaiming a section of it is “Passive lawn: No pets or active sports.”
“For several weeks, there have been reports on local forums about a resident intentionally spreading harsh spices (cayenne/red chili powder) to harm dogs in Riverside Park,” a tipster, who wished to remain anonymous, emailed West Side Rag.
According to the tipster, the person is “spreading it on walking paths” in a way that “poses a risk to leashed dogs, people and wildlife.”
On Wednesday, signs went up along a path through the island park to alert people who frequent the West 112th Street green space.
The signs allege that someone was spreading “an orange spice…which can cause pain and irritation to dogs.”
“This is animal cruelty,” it reads.
The poster added that the orange spice is not only at the entrance to the Passive Lawn, but due to the wind, has been carried around the area. It also provides tips for what to do if a dog does ingest the substance.
While dogs are not allowed in the Passive Lawn within the West 112th Street green space, animals are allowed in a path above it and in the rest of the small island park.
The Rag was not able to independently identify the orange substance.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Lots of rude dog owners with a misguided sense of entitlement bring their pooches onto passive lawns when the sign clearly forbids it, many times unleashed. The answer is enforcement, not paprika.
Unfortunately, “enforcement” seems to be a relic of the past.
This is what happens when people continually break the law and there are no repercussions. It doesn’t make it right but it is understandable. Dog owners are an entitled scourge on the UWs
Why so fragile?
How is wanting the rules to be followed and enforced fragile?
Down with the dog owner scourge!
Vigilante justice! That’s what we need! We should round up every deranged old lady on the UWS and deputize them! Shouldn’t stop at old ladies, everyone should be deputized! Every law is always being broken somewhere, at some time! We should be policing ourselves, our neighbors, our children, especially other people’s children, and doubly especially their dogs! When you’ve really cracked down on thy fellow neighbor and opened the necessary number of cans of hwoopass, your assigned Overseer will administer Brownie Points for top citizen of the fiscal quarter. Everyone will be vying for that one coveted seat on the board of directors, open to the top Citizen Enforcer.
Dogs watch out! But also thank you dogs, you’ll have ushered in a new era of peace and civility via total anarchy and paprika vigilantism.
Paprika, so much paprika!
100+ comments, minimum.
A new meaning for a Hot Dog
Best comment award!
Orange powder bad.
Perhaps it is Donalds makeup
My dearly departed fur baby killed many rats in Riverside Park, as well as a few in Central Park and on the UWS streets. She and many other terriers provide a strongly needed service to the neighborhood.
Does this give them a right to be on a passive lawn that clearly forbids dogs?
Did I say that it does?
great! now do central park!
The REAL ISSUE HERE is that dog owners are selfishly taking their dogs into an area which is not only SIGNED as a NO DOG AREA, but also one where dozens of toddlers and small children are taken to play by their day care or schools every week.
Residents have repeatedly asked them not to let their dogs run and defecate there, and they respond in unbelievably rude fashion. Calls to Parks and 311 have gone unanswered.
So yes, someone decided enough was enough. I’m surprised no one has locked that gate on their own to prevent dog owners from the behavior. Parks should be fining, and dog owners should respect their neighbors and the rules of shared urban spaces
This behavior harms any local wildlife and children playing in that area as well. The person puts the powder on the gate handles too – last time I checked, people (including children from a local preschool who play here almost every day) are the ones to touch gate handles. Not dogs.
i’m so curious if the same people making unhinged comments like “do central park next” or “they deserve it because their owners suck”, etc. would feel the same way if someone left rusty nails or something equally dangerous and offensive in areas where children shouldn’t be but parents let them roam anyways. pro tip friends, make sure you stretch before jumping straight in to the mental gymnastics you’ll surely be doing to try and justify why that is any different. some of you need some serious therapy.
This analogy is absurd. I’m laughing, but not with you.
I am not in any way condoning putting this powdered substance where it will irritate or harm dogs. But for God’s sake, it is no where near the equivalent of getting children to step on rusty nails.
As someone who lives nearby, I’ve seen what this person does. They dump the powder all over the public path (not just in the protected lawn) and all over the gate handles.
This type of behavior harms dogs who are simply walking by on a path where they’re allowed to be (not entering the lawn), local wildlife, and people and children who touch the gate handles. There are preschool kids who play in that lawn almost every day.
I dare the pro-animal torture crowd here (remember, even if the dog is somewhere they shouldn’t be, the dog doesn’t know that) to show their posts to their priests/pastors/rabbis.