Bedford-Stuyvesant residents are raising money to make sure the goldfish in a viral fire-hydrant pond survive the winter – despite warnings from a veterinarian who called the shallow habitat “animal abuse.”
The bizarre puddle-pond near Tompkins Avenue and Hancock Street has made a splash in the neighborhood, attracting visitors and crowds while sparking a debate about the less-than-ideal living conditions.
“I’ve said this before and will repeat it again: keeping these fish in a sidewalk puddle is animal cruelty and should be addressed as such,” veterinarian Benjamin Rosenbloom, founder of New York City-based Wet Pet Vet, told The Post Wednesday.
“It’s difficult to say how long they might survive as goldfish are quite hearty, but they will not be thriving under these conditions,” Rosenbloom said.
“Assuming the water continues to flow into the puddle, it will be chlorinated water, which is toxic to fish. If the city shuts it off, as they’ve already done I believe, the fish will produce too much waste, which they will have to live in without filtration.”
The backlash comes as some residents say they’ll expand and improve the pond even as city officials say the fish should be removed.
The founders, for their part, remain focused.
Bed-Stuy resident Hajj Malik-Lovick – who bought the goldfish from a nearby pet store earlier this month with co-creator Je Quan Irving – told The Post he’s now crowdfunding plexiglass and a filtration system for $5,000 through GoFundMe to protect the fish as the weather cools down.
He called the pond a community beautification project that has brought locals together, Lovick said — from local schoolchildren to longtime residents to new neighbors.
The pond fish, which are apparently fed three times a day, have even spurred babies in the weeks since the project began, he claimed.
But even with updated filtration in the roughly 1.5-inch-deep pond, the fish would suffer from changes in temperature, chemical runoff from NYC streets, and even possible predation from rats, Rosenbloom contended.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection reportedly shut off the leaking hydrant that created the pool several times over the past few weeks, but the pond’s defenders quickly opened it back up, according to Brooklyn Paper.
Lovick, 47, confirmed to The Post that the DEP has returned in the last few days to take pictures of the scene.
“[We tell them] to stop messing with it, there’s no reason to,” Lovick told The Post. “They just come ahead and make sure that everything is good, the water is fresh. Everything is good.”
Beth DeFalco, the DEP’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs and Communications, previously told The Post it was “imperative” workers were allowed to fix the hydrant.
“There are real safety concerns with damaged or leaking hydrants; it can impact the availability of water for fire emergencies, and it can impact water pressure and cause supply issues for the neighborhood,” DeFalco said. “We love goldfish also, but we know there is a better home for them than on a sidewalk.”
Rosenbloom of Wet Pet Vet isn’t the first to raise alarms about the fishes’ wellbeing.
Earlier this month, Bed-Stuy residents Emily Campbell and Max David “rescued” about 30 fish from the pond, with the intention of finding them a new home, FOX 5 reported.
“I’m really disheartened and concerned for the well being of these fish,” one Reddit user wrote of the pond — which has been renamed Gavs Fish Pond per the GoFundMe page. “They are being kept in a shallow 2[inch] puddle on the street, fed from a leaking fire hydrant, no filter, no treatment for the water, not even a liner just dirt + trash.”
At least two animal abuse complaints and two water maintenance complaints have been made to the city’s 311 system on the block since Aug. 1, records show.
Lovick, however, argued that a goldfish’s fate — such as in plastic bags at carnivals — is already cruel, and he’s giving them a better life at the Bed-Stuy pond.
“How much space do they need?” Lovick said. “A goldfish [usually] lives in a little tank.
“They feed goldfish to other animals to keep them alive, so how is it animal abuse if we’re keeping them living longer?”
