We received an email along with a group of photos of the original feral dogs of Red Hook & Gowanus from Regina Massaro of the Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP). Ms. Massaro and SNIP helped rescue the dogs. (Several were even pulled from the Gowanus when they were drowning.) We’ve never seen photos of them, although we knew of their existence. Ms. Massaro says that the Revere Sugar Dogs in Red Hook, which have now been rescued, came from the 9th Street Dogs. Here is part of what she wrote:
It is my belief that the Revere Sugar Dogs were the offspring of the Red Hook Dogs on 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Also, between 20-30 dogs lived on 6th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. In 2000, several were drowning in the Gowanus and were rescued. Throughout the years, SNIP rescued many. Today, one dog remains, 14 year old “Suzie”. She is a feral dog and was trapped and spayed 7 years ago and then returned to her owner, who is homeless and resides on 10th Street.
At one time, 75 feral dogs lived in the lot on Ninth Street. Ms. Massaro says that while SNIP worked to save the Red Hook and Gowanus dogs, other animal rescue organizations were uninterested in their fate.
Suzie, the dog facing the camera, is the last remaining feral Gowanus-Red Hook dog. She is 14 years old. This photo was taken in 2007.
These are two of the dogs that were rescued.
[All photos courtesy of Regina Massaro/SNIP]
2 responses so far ↓
1 amgphoto // Aug 2, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for posting this story…I wondered what happened to these dogs. There used to be quite a few packs of feral dogs up in the neighborhood around the Navy Yard. I lived on Carlton Avenue in the 1970s, and used to walk up to the Yards…we were never sure if we’d run into a gang of kids or pack of wild dogs. Both could be pretty intimidating.
2 IF THE BIRDS KNEW // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:26 am
Aww…the thing is we had so many dogs in the sugar factory…and then they started dismantling it so they moved over to the grain silos and people were terrified…but they were really sweet and just scared. People are always dumping dogs in Red Hook. One of our friends saved a baby chihuahua in a snowstorm and the other saved a Bassett puppy both from the Red Hook fields during snowstorms. Years ago they used to roam the streets in packs and slowly the locals would adopt one or two at a time. thanks for the post.