On New Year's Day, staff of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) discovered a pile of debris dumped at Bonefish Pond National Park. Eric Carey, BNT executive director, said yesterday that the incident made him furious.
There are 1,200 acres of healthy mangroves in the park, which is located in southern New Providence. The debris was dumped a mere 20 feet from a recently-constructed boardwalk and it consisted of old building materials, cement bags and used wood.
"I was really ecstatic when we learned that one of the major Junkanoo groups had decided to go with a theme celebrating Bahamian wetlands," Carey told reporters yesterday at a news conference at the park.
"For us in the Bahamas National Trust, it was an indication that we were having some success creating awareness about the importance of these systems.
"[Then] you drive out here the same day with a couple of friends to show them this beautiful Bahamian wetland, you turn the corner and you almost have a heart attack, because this hits you like a 20-pound ball."
Carey said the BNT is offering a reward of $2,000 for any information regarding the person or persons who offloaded the debris at the park. Members of the public can call 393-1317 with information.
"Why would someone come out here and with such disdain for the environment decide that they were going to dump this here?," he asked.
"You would think that that same idiot would have at least a hundredth of an ounce of some decency that would lead him to think, 'wow I can't dump it here because look what's behind me'. But no, the idiot proceeds, and using whatever lunacy drove him out here, takes it a bit further and dumps this load of garbage."
He continued: "We believe that until we can prosecute some of these people who do this foolishness that it's going to continue, because they are not going to be deterred."
In the future Carey said the BNT hopes to increase patrols, as well as provide another vehicle for those patrollers.
The area had a history of dumping before the BNT created the infrastructure and cleaned it up. Carey said since the clean-up he noticed that people would dump small pieces of garbage, but not the amount dumped on New Year's Day.
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