38 ducks found dead, legs broken
Middle Island, NY (US)Incident Date: Monday, Sep 6, 2004
County: Suffolk
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Thirty-eight dead ducks and ducklings were found strewn across the roadway near a pond on Church Lane around 6:45 a.m. Monday. All of their legs were broken. Many, he said, had been run over.
The citizen who discovered them, with the permission of authorities that arrived at the scene, shoveled the carcasses of the white, domestic ducks to one side of the roadway.
Indications are it was a case of aggravated animal abuse, said Roy Gross, department chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is doing a joint investigation with the Suffolk County Police Department. "The legs of every single one of the birds, even those that were not run over, were broken."
There are many possible causes for their death, including poison or an infection with a virus such as West Nile, Gross said.
"We will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice," he said, noting that animal abuse in the state is a felony.
A number of cases involving mass killings of birds have been reported on Long Island over recent years.
In June 1999, nearly two dozen Canada geese were found dead on a small grassy median in Plainview by the man who cared for them for more than a dozen years. The trays of food for the geese were filled with what officials called a "milky, white substance, appeared to have been intentionally poisoned with pesticide."
Less than a year later in January 2000, more than three dozen dead and dying Canada geese recovered at Crooked Pond in Southampton were found, through testing, to have lead poisoning from ingesting lead pellets fired by skeet shooters.
Just over three years later in February 2003, about 90 dead and dying geese were recovered at the same pond. Tests by the Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons determined they, too, had suffered lead poisoning.
Gross said the first thing to cross his mind after arriving at the scene was the possibility of the pond being poisoned. That, however, didn't appear to be the case, he said, because other birds in the water appeared healthy.
Residents in the area said the birds appeared at the pond three days or longer before they were found dead.
Gross said ducks are commonly abandoned by people who get them as ducklings and for a variety of reasons end up dumping them. It's only speculation right now, he said, but it's a possibility they were dumped because they were sick. If you have information on this case, please contact:
Chief Roy Gross of Suffolk County SPCA
631-382-7722
Case Updates| Farm Sanctuary, a national farm animal protection organization, is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the guilty parties involved in the Middle Island duck slaying. | | Update posted on Oct 9, 2004 - 1:03PM |
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