A 10-year-old child has been charged with animal cruelty in connection with an attack last month that presumably orphaned nine ducklings after their mother and a sibling were likely stoned to death at Hoopes Park, officials said.
Auburn Police Department Lt. Shawn Butler said it's up to the county attorney to decide whether or not to prosecute the child with the misdemeanor charge in family court.
A representative from the county attorney's office was not immediately available.
Two children younger than 13 years old were also with the 10-year-old during the alleged incident that occurred on May 17, but were not charged, Butler said.
“We can only draw the charge against the one who actually killed a duck based on the evidence,” Butler said. “Through interviews with the children and their parents we were able to determine who threw the rocks. Because we talked to the parents, they are well aware of what their kids where doing and where.”
City Manager Mark Palesh said that he and city maintenance worker Jeff Brown gathered up the ducklings a day after the attack and placed them in the park's greenhouse attached to the back of the club house. Palesh's daughter, Madeline, 11, and Brown's daughters, Alexis, 12, and Kate, 5, helped take care of the ducklings for several days.
But by the end of the week, Palesh said, two Department of Environmental Conservation officials told him he needed a migratory bird permit to take care of the ducks and that the animals would be transferred to Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Rehabilitation in Pennellville.
Jean Soprano, president of Kindred Kingdoms, said the ducklings, which are between 4 and 6 weeks old, are now living with 10 other orphaned ducklings.
“They have doubled in size in about a week,” Soprano said. “They are eating and growing like little pigs. We want to limit their human interaction because they will be released into the wild after they grow their primary flight feathers, which won't happen until September.”
Soprano said her goal is to release them into a heated pond in the Utica area next winter, where they will learn the migratory habits from other ducks.
The ducklings cannot be released into Hoopes Park because the ducks there do not migrate, Soprano said.
But that does not mean none of them will return to Auburn.
“The female ducks will return,” Soprano said. “Ducks are matriarchal, and when the mate, they mate for life and they always return to where the female was born. It's instinct.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
A representative from the county attorney's office was not immediately available.
Two children younger than 13 years old were also with the 10-year-old during the alleged incident that occurred on May 17, but were not charged, Butler said.
“We can only draw the charge against the one who actually killed a duck based on the evidence,” Butler said. “Through interviews with the children and their parents we were able to determine who threw the rocks. Because we talked to the parents, they are well aware of what their kids where doing and where.”
City Manager Mark Palesh said that he and city maintenance worker Jeff Brown gathered up the ducklings a day after the attack and placed them in the park's greenhouse attached to the back of the club house. Palesh's daughter, Madeline, 11, and Brown's daughters, Alexis, 12, and Kate, 5, helped take care of the ducklings for several days.
But by the end of the week, Palesh said, two Department of Environmental Conservation officials told him he needed a migratory bird permit to take care of the ducks and that the animals would be transferred to Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Rehabilitation in Pennellville.
Jean Soprano, president of Kindred Kingdoms, said the ducklings, which are between 4 and 6 weeks old, are now living with 10 other orphaned ducklings.
“They have doubled in size in about a week,” Soprano said. “They are eating and growing like little pigs. We want to limit their human interaction because they will be released into the wild after they grow their primary flight feathers, which won't happen until September.”
Soprano said her goal is to release them into a heated pond in the Utica area next winter, where they will learn the migratory habits from other ducks.
The ducklings cannot be released into Hoopes Park because the ducks there do not migrate, Soprano said.
But that does not mean none of them will return to Auburn.
“The female ducks will return,” Soprano said. “Ducks are matriarchal, and when the mate, they mate for life and they always return to where the female was born. It's instinct.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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Post your comment - click hereThere are 16 comment(s)
spatrx wrote on Jun 3, 2009 1:41 PM:
ruserious wrote on Jun 2, 2009 6:31 PM:
coach7811 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 5:30 PM:
091951 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 5:10 PM:
Sunshine420 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 5:02 PM:
I am happy the ducklings are safe where they are. The female ducks will come back to Hoopes Park again. Hopefully at some point new males will be there too... "
Jim wrote on Jun 2, 2009 3:07 PM:
Let's punish him, yes. But let's get him into counseling and see if we've got a budding psychopath on our hands. "
FS II wrote on Jun 2, 2009 1:55 PM:
spatrx wrote on Jun 2, 2009 1:35 PM:
teacher1 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 12:50 PM:
thinksensibly wrote on Jun 2, 2009 10:04 AM:
I was so glad to see this kid was charged and I too hope a STIFF penalty will be imposed. I get so sick and tired of "he/she's just a kid".. that's not an excuse. Kids that age should have been supervised so the parents have no excuse either!
Any child that age doing something so cruel is only going to grow worse with age. Proof of that is the school shootings of recent years.
It is high time society got a handle on the behavior that is tolerated and allowed from others. Turning a blind eye has only contributed to the disintegration of society. "
Voice of Auburn wrote on Jun 2, 2009 9:47 AM:
sabrina5487 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 8:50 AM:
sabrina5487 wrote on Jun 2, 2009 8:24 AM:
stick wrote on Jun 2, 2009 7:57 AM:
FS II wrote on Jun 2, 2009 7:53 AM:
Farmer's Gal wrote on Jun 2, 2009 7:39 AM:
Why is it OK for the females to be moved first to Utica, then back to Hoopes Park, but not the males?
Let's hope there is an appropriately stiff penalty for the child who killed the duck -- enough to send a message not only to him, but also to other nasty vicious children and their parents. I also hope there is some mandatory counselling/therapy, because that child has a serious problem which needs attention before it grows into something worse. "