Monday, June 28th, 2010

33-year-old Carla DelGallo was hospitalized and her daughter, six-month-old Gianna Ricciutti, was killed on Saturday after a tree branch fell near Central Park Zoo, sparking more questions about the quality of maintenance of the park’s 26,000 trees.  The baby was in her mother’s arms outside of the zoo’s gate when the limb fell, causing head injuries to the mother and the baby’s death.  While the incident occurred outside of the zoo, the tree is on the zoo’s grounds and is maintained by the Wildlife Conservation Society, rather than the Central Park Conservancy.  Although the Conservancy did not maintain the tree that caused the incident on Saturday, all groups charged with maintaining Central Park trees are under fire after the tragedy, yet another to occur in Central Park recently.  The New York Daily News reports that watchdog group NYC Park Advocates is coming out swinging at the Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society, demanding a bigger effort to maintain trees in the park that sees approximately 25 million visitors each year.  “This is crazy. We really have to be looking at this – it’s happening way too much,” said Geoffrey Croft, president of the group.  “We cannot have the public getting killed in the park.”  The Parks Department’s response to the incident was a statement on Sunday: “The investigation as to why the limb fell is ongoing, as is a review of specific responsibility for tree maintenance.”  The Central Park Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society did not respond to messages over the weekend.

Saturday’s incident came after a series of tree limb accidents, including last summer’s critical injury of Google engineer Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, the death of Elmaz Gyra by a snow-covered limb in February, and the non-life-threatening injuries of three women picnicking near the Boathouse in May.

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Tags: Death, Fallen Tree, Injury, Tree Limb, Wildlife Conservation Society