The NY Times claims to have solved the mystery of where the D train opossum is, after initially reporting on its subway commute of glory earlier this week. But...
In Wednesday's article, the Times reported after subway riders discovered the opossum underneath seats, the train was evacuated at West Fourth Street, where police officers tried to remove it. But the opossum wanted to stay onboard so the cops had the train meet Animal Care & Control at the railyard near Grand Concourse in the Bronx. But Animal Care & Control never responded to an opossum incident, telling us, "AC&C was not involved in the removal of an opossum from a subway train on Friday, nor was one delivered to the shelter."
Now the Times reports:
Late Thursday afternoon, an e-mail arrived from the Police Department. It turned out that officers in the Bronx had summoned a group of emergency service officers, an elite squad that handles complex jobs, including capturing rogue coyotes and apartment-invading hawks.
It was only then that the opossum was removed from the D train and, as a police spokesman put it, “released into an adjoining wooded area.”
The opossum’s rescuers also bestowed a name on the animal: Jerome, after the avenue in the Bronx that runs alongside the rail yard. Jerome has not been seen, or heard from, since.
Of course, "released into an adjoining wooded area" might be code for just about anything (it's like when the NYPD said a high-ranking cop used pepper spray appropriately. Subway Possum Tweeted at Times reporter Michael Grynbaum, "Way to buy NYPD's spin, @grynbaum! Tonight when you dream of blood-red eyes inches from yr face, it won't be no dream. #PossumsDon'tPlay" (Also, he does like the name "ODP.") But if rats this size are roaming the Bronx, poor ODP has no chance.
