Bergen St. Dog Owners File Razor-Wire Complaint

There is a silent battle being waged between Boerum Hill dog owners and an unknown resident living at or near 101 Bergen Street, between Smith and Hoyt Streets, locals reported to Carroll Gardens Patch Monday evening.

At approximately 6:00 p.m., a Bergen Street dog owner was walking her Beagle, Ranulph, when she observed that razor wire had been wrapped around the base of a tree—sharp enough to cut through a pooch's paws. The concerned animal lover called in the incident to 311 and officers from the 84 Precinct responded within 20 minutes, removing the wire, even placing it in a recycling bin.

There's just one problem.

"This isn't the first time," said Maria, who would only provide her first name for fear of retalitation by the razor wrapper. Neighbors on the street stated that for the past few weeks wire and other strange materials have been draped on top of the gravel that surrounds a tree in front of 101 Bergen Street.

The first time Maria noticed was late one evening two weeks ago when she realized that Ranulph had sniffed himself into the center of a wire snarl.

"You couldn't see it immediately because it was nighttime," said Maria. "And dogs are always nosing around. But once I saw what it was, I immediately lifted him out of there."

On another occasion, she said she was walking by and smelled an odor, similar to chilli or vinegar, eminating from the ground at the same spot.

"When I looked, the gravel had been doused with a strange reddish-brown liquid," Maria recalled. "I wondered if it was poison or what it could be. I still wonder."

Another neighbor, Mike Kingfield, concurred. "It looked like ketchup or something had been splattered all over the gravel," said Kingfield, who owns a bulldog named Buster.

The general concensus by Kingfield and other witnesses is that the razor-wrapping resident is responding to dog owners who do not pick up after their pets. 

"One day the wire was circled around a pile of poop someone had left on the gravel," he said. "So it's definitely in response to that. People should pick up after their dogs."

Otherwise, Kingfield predicted of the reappearing wire, "I'm sure it will happen again."