NEW YORK (AP) — A couple of longtime Brooklyn residents were lounging in the heat last week, staring at a sidewalk tree pit often flooded by a leaky fire hydrant, when they came up with the idea for a makeshift aquarium.
“We started joking about: what if we added fish,” recalled Hajj-Malik Lovick, 47, a lifelong resident of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. “Since the water is always there sitting in the puddle, why not turn this into something that’s more interesting?”
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A man touches a pool of water with fish swimming inside next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
A sign is posted near to a pool of water with fish swimming inside in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
After fortifying the edges of the tree bed with rocks and brick, they bought 100 common goldfish from a pet store for $16 and dumped them in. The appearance of peanut-sized fish swimming around the shallow basin quickly became a neighborhood curiosity, drawing visitors who dubbed it “the Hancock Street Bed-Stuy Aquarium.”
But as videos and news stories about the fish pit have circulated online, the project has drawn concern from city officials and backlash from animal rights advocates. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, two neighborhood residents, Emily Campbell and Max David, carried out a rescue mission. Using nets and plastic bags, they pulled about 30 fish from the two-inch deep waters.
They say they were rescuing the fish from inhumane conditions. But the operation has sparked a roiling debate about gentrification in the historically Black neighborhood, which has seen an influx of young white residents in recent years.
“I’m very aware of the optics of a white yuppie coming here and telling this man who’s lived in the neighborhood his whole life that he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said Campbell, a self-described fish enthusiast who previously worked in aquaponics. “I do sympathize with that. I just don’t want to watch 40 fish suffocate in a puddle from their own waste.”
Campbell, 29, said she was working to rehome the rescued fish, keeping many of them in tanks inside her apartment. Several people had contacted her with concerns about the remaining fish inside the pit. “I’m still concerned for the fishes’ well-being, but I’m more concerned about the divisiveness in the community,” she said Friday.
Those involved in the sidewalk experiment say they have enriched the neighborhood and provided a better life for the goldfish, a small breed that is usually sold as food for larger marine species. They feed the fish three times per day and take shifts watching over them, ensuring the fire hydrant remains at a slow trickle.
“I feel like we’re helping the goldfish," Lovick said. "These people came here and just want to change things”
In recent days, supporters have come by to donate decorations, such as pearls and seashells, as well as food, according to Floyd Washington, one of the pond monitors.
“It brings conversation in the community,” he said. “People stop on the way to work and get to see something serene and meet their neighbors. Now we have these fish in common.”
He said the group planned to keep the fish in place for about two more weeks, then donate them to neighborhood children. On Friday afternoon, the visitors included local grocery workers, an actor, and a wide-eyed toddler whose nanny had learned about the tank on the news.
“It’s a really beautiful guerilla intervention,” said Josh Draper, an architect who keeps his own goldfish in his Bed-Stuy apartment. “It’s creating a city that’s alive.”
Another passerby suggested the fish would soon become “rat food.”
“Nah,” replied Washington. “That’s Eric Adams right there,” he said, pointing to one of the few black fish, apparently named after the city’s current mayor. “No one messes with him.”
Adams did not respond to a request for comment. But a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said there were real safety concerns about leaking hydrants. They had sent crews to fix the hydrant multiple times, but it had been turned back on by residents.
“We love goldfish also, but we know there is a better home for them than on a sidewalk,” said an agency spokesperson, Beth DeFalco.
As of Friday afternoon, dozens of fish were still swimming in the pit.
A man touches a pool of water with fish swimming inside next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
A sign is posted near to a pool of water with fish swimming inside in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
SYDNEY (AP) — The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney on Thursday where they lined up to experience a momentous bloom -– and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage.
Tall, pointed and smelly, the corpse flower is scientifically known as amorphophallus titanum — or bunga bangkai in Indonesia, where the plants are found in the Sumatran rainforest.
But to fans of this specimen, she’s Putricia -- a portmanteau of “putrid” and “Patricia” eagerly adopted by her followers who, naturally, call themselves Putricians. For a week, she has graced a stately and gothic display in front of a purple curtain and wreathed in mist from a humidifier at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden.
Her rise to fame since has been rapid, with more than 13,000 admirers filing past for a moment in her increasingly pungent presence. No corpse flower has bloomed at the garden for 15 years.
The plant only flowers every 7-10 years in the wild.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia's kooky and funereal display. “When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 worldwide — including those in cultivation. Among them is Putricia, which arrived at the garden seven years ago.
When her flower was spotted in December she was just 25 centimeters (10 inches) high. By Thursday, she was 1.6 meters (5 feet 3 inches) tall -– and her flower spike was slowly opening like a pleated skirt around a majestic central tuber, the yellow-green outer curling to reveal a burgundy center.
As excitement grew in Sydney about the moment of her bloom, garden staff erected crowd barriers, giving the Victorian greenhouse the air of a rock concert. Fans trod a red carpet to view Putricia from behind velvet ropes in a display inspired by Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the oeuvre of the late director David Lynch.
Inside, fans took selfies and leaned in for a sniff — an increasingly perilous prospect as Putricia's odor developed. One young woman raised her hands and bowed as though in worship. On social media, garden staff performed a viral dance to Chappell Roan’s summer hit HOT TO GO! against a backdrop of the stately plant.
It was difficult to say why the regal, mysterious and stinky flower had attracted such a following -– but perhaps the answer lay in the “reverence” viewers felt in the presence of “such an amazing living being,” Daniel said.
Along with her real-life visitors, Putricia’s online fandom has been rapid, global and deeply strange -– if much less smelly. A 24/7 live stream established by the botanic garden drew close to a million views in less than a week and a shared language of memes and inside jokes sprang up.
Frequently deployed acronyms included WWTF, or we watch the flower, WDNRP -- we do not rush Putricia – and BBTB, or blessed be the bloom. “Putricia is a metaphor for my life,” wrote one poster, who did not elaborate.
Commenters on social media made plans to hurry to the garden as the plant opened. In just 24 hours, Putricia’s bloom -– and her stench -– would be gone.
As she unfurled, Putricia would heat to 37 degrees Celsius (100 F) to better spread her scent, Daniel said, attracting flies and carrion beetles to burrow inside and lay eggs. Then, work will begin to hand-pollinate the plant in efforts to ensure the species' diversity and survival.
But first, thousands of Putricians will attempt to get as close as they can to their hero of a week.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room," said Daniel, adding that garden staff ultimately decided against it. “I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed."
Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
An endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
A man uses a mop to soak up water from the plants where an endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, is on display at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
An endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Sophie Daniel poses for a photo next to an endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Karen, center left, and Wayne McKay photograph themselves with an endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
An endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People view an endangered plant known as the "corpse flower" for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)