Jere Martin Patterson Jr. of Largo, Florida, is charged with animal cruelty.
Patterson shot the bird multiple times with a BB gun, police said. Then he captured the injured bird, according to police, and killed it. The egret suffered “multiple fractures to the wing and neck area,” the report said.
After killing the bird, police said, Patterson stuffed its carcass inside a plastic trash bag and put it in a large bin at Keystone Mobile Home Park.
Disgusting of course, as any such behavior towards birds would be. But it is especially jarring for birders as the bird is described in the article as a “little egret” which surely many birders would have wanted to see.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
I figure by “Little Egret” they mean “not a Great Egret”, which would be a Snowy or Cattle Egret. But who knows?
Tampa Bay Times, release the photos!
People like this man are twisted & sick.
“Disgusting of course, as any such behavior towards birds would be.” It would be disgusting towards any animal, or person for that matter. Some people are just unhinged.
People really disgust me sometimes. If you think a bird is trying to eat your kitten, the correct response is to keep the kitten inside, not to repeatedly injure then kill the bird.
The egret was probably eating the little ducklings in his pond, and the man was most likely trying to help. Great white egrets violently shake the little ducklings around to try and snap the baby ducks neck and then dunks it under ware to drown it. This goes on for quite some time with the baby duckling screaming and squealing for help until swallowed.
Or, Dave, you could have clicked through to the (helpfully linked) article and saw that his nonsensical excuse was that it was trying to eat his kitten.