Eel dumping? Police search for man who threw eels into Brooklyn park

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Police in New York are trying to find the man who they said dumped dozens of eels into a lake.

The eel dumping happened Sunday evening.

Witnesses said a man took two large contractor garbage bags to Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn filled with what some thought were snakes, but were actually eels, WLNY reported.

Andrew Orkin said there were more than 100 and they were all alive, WLNY reported.

Orkin was among the people in the park who started to tell the unidentified man to stop and that dumping the eels into the ecosystem was illegal.

The man responded that he was there to save lives, WNBC reported.

The Prospect Park Alliance said that the release of animals into the park without a permit is illegal, WNBC reported.

An animal and aquatic technician said the man wasn’t saving the eels' lives; instead, he was going to end up killing them.

“These eels, someone who thinks they’re rescuing them and saving them, they’re an invasive species from further down the country. They probably won’t survive the winter, our colder winters, so what they’re doing is signing a death warrant to the animal,” Marty Woess told WLNY.

Cox Media Group