NYPD helps dolphin spotted in polluted Brooklyn creek
A dolphin was seen swimming in the Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn. (Nov. 14, 2013) Credit: News 12 Brooklyn
The fate of a wayward bottlenosed dolphin who entered a polluted Brooklyn creek Thursday morning wasn't known Thursday night, but the outlook was good.
Shortly before noon, NYPD divers removed a floating barrier that was keeping the dolphin from leaving Coney Island Creek, where it was first spotted about 10:30 a.m.
Floating barriers like the one that was removed are used to help contain trash and debris in city waterways.
"We removed that so he could make his way out, and we were told to let him be after that," a police spokesman said.
It wasn't immediately known whether the dolphin had left the creek for safer waters. A crowd of onlookers gathered after the dolphin was spotted at the shallow, muddy creek at Cropsey Avenue and Bay 54th Street.
The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Prevention told News 12 New York that because the dolphin was seen swimming freely in the water and wasn't stranded, it was probably healthy.
