- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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Lansing Parks staff removed what was thought to be a dead boar from a silt deposit in Salmon Creek Monday. The animal, which turned out to be a domestic hog, was discovered on a silt deposit just off of Salt Point. Recreation Supervisor Pat Tyrrell said it was impossible to tell whether the animal was dumped or washed down the creek.
"We couldn’t tell what it died from," Tyrrell said. "I haven’t heard about any wild hogs in the area in four or five years. It did have small tusks just barely visible outside it’s mouth."
Salmon Creek divides Salt point and Myers Point where it flows into Cayuga Lake. The Lansing Highway Department dredges silt deposits, but federal and state environmental regulations limit what they can do, and how much dredging is allowed. The dredging is necessary because the gravel buildups exacerbate ice dams along the creek, causing flooding issues for nearby residents. Permits define specific days when the dredging may occur, and the department may only remove materials above the water line.
The wild boar was found on an island of silt and gravel just off the Salt Point shore. Myers Park can be seen across the creek.Part of the repercussions of these limits are that islands of silt and stone are formed in the creek between Myers Park and Salt Point. The animal was found on one of these islands, requiring park workers to wear hip boots when retrieving the animal.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials picked up the carcass Monday for examination. They called the Parks and Recreation Office Wednesday to report that the animal is a domestic hog that must have gotten loose from a nearby farm. Tyrrell says the state agency may also be able to determine the cause of death.
The Parks and Recreation Department receives several calls per year to remove dead animals from the parks. The calls come typically in late winter and early spring. The Parks department has removed dead deer that have washed onto the shore, as well as beavers, raccoons, and possums.
The DEC owns Salt Point, but in 2006 the state agency contracted for the Town of Lansing to manage what has become a nature park that features natural flora and birds, including a family of osprey that has returned each year since an a utility pole with a platform holding an osprey nest
Residents call the Lansing highway Department when animals, killed on the road, end up in their yards.
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