On Dec. 3, a 10-month-old Great Pyrenees pup got stranded on the ice in the middle of a pond off Fairchild Road in the town of Remsen.
Oneida County Sheriffs were first on the scene and requested assistance from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police for an ice water rescue.
A member of DEC’s Flood Incident Response Team, along with members of Barneveld Fire Department Swift Water Rescue Team and Holland Patent Fire Department, broke through the ice utilizing a boat and webbing.
In the event the fluffy white pooch, whose name is Archie, didn’t come to them on command, rescuers also carried a special piece of equipment: a chunk of delicious sharp cheddar cheese.
The plan worked, and after a few attempts, rescuers successfully enticed Archie aboard an inflatable boat and floated him safely to shore.
The following reports are excerpted from DEC:
ECOs ticketed a person (on left in blue coat) for harassing two Long Island waterfowl hunters on Nov. 30.NYS DEC
Two waterfowl hunters were harassed on DEC property in Brookhaven on Nov. 30. ECOs and Suffolk County Police conducted a waterfowl hunting compliance check on the hunters and found no violations. The hunters showed police a video of someone yelling at them and throwing their decoys. The person in the video returned to the location and, in view of the ECOs, again began yelling at the hunters. ECOs issued the person tickets for interfering with the lawful taking of fish or game and failure to obey a DEC sign.
A 29-year-old hunter fell approximately 15 feet from his tree stand in Salem on Nov. 24. He was not wearing a safety harness. Local fire department personnel put the victim in a neck brace but had difficulty getting him to a utility terrain vehicle due to the hilly and wooded terrain. An ECO directed the packaging of the injured hunter in a litter and helped carry him a half mile out of the woods to a landing zone where he was airlifted to Burlington Medical Center.
ECOs recently ticketed several anglers in Lower Manhattan for keeping undersized fish, along with other violations.NYS DEC
Several anglers in Lower Manhattan unlawfully hid numerous undersized fish in locations around Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park on Nov. 20. Two undercover ECOs patrolling the area alerted uniformed officers who then issued six tickets for keeping undersized fish, along with other violations.
On Nov. 16, a hunter reported finding a freshly killed antlerless deer in a Greenwich field where no one else had permission to hunt. An ECO watched the deer for several hours without anyone retrieving it. The next day, the deer was gone. The ECO tracked the animal back to a Greenwich residence and interviewed several members of the same family over a two-week period, including one 20-year-old man who claimed the deer was roadkill that he picked up. The ECO confiscated a rifle from the home that he believed was used to illegally kill the deer. On Dec. 4, the man was arrested and charged with felony criminal contempt, criminal possession of a weapon, submitting a false written statement, and child endangerment, illegal take of an antlerless deer, and hunting without a license. The deer was donated to a venison donation program.
An ECO holds an unlicensed juvenile crocodile and dwarf caiman that Yonkers police discovered while conducting an arrest for unrelated charges on Dec. 10.NYS DEC
Yonkers police discovered two reptiles—a juvenile crocodile and dwarf caiman—while conducting an arrest for unrelated charges on Dec. 10. The reptiles were placed in a properly licensed facility and ECOs issued multiple tickets to the owner for illegally possessing reptiles without the required permit
An ECO found this stray dog on Orchard Beach in Bronx County and took it to a shelter where it’s now awaiting adoption.NYS DEC
On December 6, two ECOs doing fishing compliance patrols in New York City found a stray dog without tags on Orchard Beach in Bronx County. They managed to get the dog on a leash and take it to the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, which confirmed the animal was not microchipped and likely abandoned. A volunteer-based no-kill pet rescue in Harrison took the dog in, where he is currently available for adoption under the name “Hooch.”