NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – Kim Marchena said she feels heartbroken after a killer targeted dozens of ducklings and ducks in her North Miami neighborhood.
The Keystone Point community’s residents woke up on Wednesday to nearly a dozen dead.
Marchena estimates the killing spree was “probably, close to about 45 ducks within the last three or four days.”
Marchena used social media to document the gruesome scene. A video shows a shooter wounded one of the ducks in the chest.
Florida law protects all animals such as muscovy ducks from harassment and inhumane killing.
Andrew Danek said he had never seen such cruelty.
“Each day, I go back to my yard to see the ducks,” Danek said. “There’s less and less of them.”
Marchena and Danek were among the residents who feared the person behind the cruel killings was displaying a dangerous lack of empathy.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allows ducks to be “humanely trapped” or “removed” from private property, and when euthanized requires the birds to be buried, or burned.
North Miami police officers were investigating a violation of a city ordinance related to the “unlawful disposal of a dead animal.”
For information on how to request a dead animal pickup, visit this page.
Florida’s anti-cruelty statute
- “A person who ... unnecessarily mutilates, or kills any animal, or causes the same to be done, or carries in or upon any vehicle, or otherwise, any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner, commits animal cruelty, a misdemeanor of the first degree.”
- “A person convicted of a second or subsequent violation ... shall be required to pay a minimum mandatory fine of $5,000 and serve a minimum mandatory period of incarceration of 6 months.”