You are reading

Animal Rescue Groups Save More Than a Dozen Ducks Neglected in the Yard of a Forest Hills Home

LION founder and president John Di Leonardo with the goose and ducks rescued from Forest Hills (LION via Facebook)

Jan. 18, 2021 By Allie Griffin

A pair of animal rescue groups saved more than a dozen ducks last week that were allegedly neglected for years in the yard of a Forest Hills home.

Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION) and New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NYCLASS) rescued 16 Muscovy and runner ducks and an Embden goose from a home located across from Forest Hills High School.

The birds, according to LION founder John Di Leonardo, were discovered sleeping outside on a bed of frozen feces at a time when the temperatures dropped below freezing. He said that the birds were also living on stale bagels and moldy bread and their drinking water was frozen.

“These ducks were being illegally kept in neglectful, cruel conditions, without shelter in below-freezing temperatures in what was basically a small-scale slaughter operation,” Di Leonardo wrote on Facebook.

Di Leonardo, who is also an anthrozoologist, said neighbors had been calling the city for months to try to get the animals to safety until he intervened on Tuesday.

“With temperatures dropping, we couldn’t wait for the authorities to act anymore,” Di Leonardo said in a video posted to Facebook.

He added that the ducks are not built to endure freezing temperatures.

“Muscovy ducks are endemic to South and Central America and are especially prone to frostbite and hypothermia when exposed to our harsh winters,” Di Leonardo told the Queens Post.

He and other volunteers convinced the owner to surrender five of the birds that day. They came and collected the remaining 12 ducks two days later.

The birds are now recovering at LION’s Riverhead shelter and will be placed in permanent homes. They are being treated for bumblefoot, a type of staph infection to the foot, and various abrasions to the face and feet, Di Leonardo said.

Three of the rescued ducks inside LION’s Riverhead shelter (LION)

The goose is also receiving medical attention for “severe angel wing,” which is a result of malnutrition, according to Di Leonardo.

“It is always heartbreaking to see animals neglected,” he said. “Whether dogs or ducks, all animals feel pain and want to live a life of joy just like we do.”

The owner, Di Leonardo said, was planning to send the birds to a slaughterhouse.

He said neglect and cruelty is commonplace at live slaughter markets. He said slaughterhouses often cut the toes and beaks off birds.

“Birds are exempt from even the basic federal protections of the Animal Welfare Act and Humane Slaughter Act, so the best way for us to help them is to simply leave them off our plates,” Di Leonardo said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

2 Comments

Click for Comments 
Brent Cavanaugh

Now they should go after the one on 69th and Ingram along with the one on Union Turnpike & Metro. Enough of this nonsense.

7
1
Reply
Sara Ross

If it was across the street from the high school, then there’s a good chance they were owned by one of the garbage immigrants who live in those disgusting structures they call homes! I thought there were limits to how tall an individual home can be? Boy, DOB must have gotten a nice wad of cash from these POS.

9
1
Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Ridgewood mother and daughter arrested for attacking woman over parking spot: NYPD

A Ridgewood mother and daughter were arrested Monday after they ambushed a young Black woman who tried to park her car in a spot in front of their apartment building that they frequently cordon off with garbage cans and traffic cones.

A family friend was standing at the northeast corner of Onderdonk Avenue and Putnam Avenue at around 7:30 p.m. when the 21-year-old Jada McPherson tried to park her car in the spot. The man placed a garbage can in her way. She drove off and circled the block multiple times. She tried to pull into the same spot one more time, but the man tried to stop her again. McPherson got out of her car to confront him, and an argument ensued.

Man in his 50s sought for exposing himself to 13-year-old on E train in Forest Hills: NYPD

Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who allegedly flashed a 13-year-old girl on a Queens subway train last month.

The victim was riding a southbound E train approaching the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station at around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 30, when she saw a stranger exposing himself to her, police said Wednesday. The perpetrator ran off the train at the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station and fled in an unknown direction. The youngster was not injured during her encounter with the stranger.