TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Three drunk people were arrested on animal cruelty charges for trying to suffocate and kill ducklings at Lake Ella, police said.
Witnesses told Tallahassee Police Department officers the three people were attempting to harm and kill ducks on Aug. 17, according to a probable cause document.
Police said they placed the "extremely intoxicated" people under Marchman Acts and took them to the closest receiving facility for treatment.
Witnesses said Michael Bess, 51, and Shirley Taylor, 48, took a duckling and placed it into a plastic bag apparently to suffocate it. Bess and Taylor released the duckling in the bag after witnesses said they were calling police.
Mark Herndon, 52, kicked an adult duck, damaging its feathers. When confronted by witnesses, Herndon tried to squeeze a duckling to harm or kill it, the court documents said.
The witness said Herndon did not release the duckling in his fist until police began arriving in the area.
The three also became aggressive toward a witness who sought to intervene in the trio's treatment of the ducks.
After a TPD officer informed the three people of the Miranda Warning, all three became uncooperative and were not questioned, the court document said.
While a TPD officer transported Bess for medical treatment, the officer overheard Bess say "we didn't do nothing. I just picked up the duck from the street so he wouldn't get hit and let him go."
A representative for St. Francs Wildlife determined that the adult duck's wing was not broken and it did not require further veterinary assistance.
Bess was booked into the Leon County Detention Center on Sunday on a $5,000 bond and remained there Monday.
Herndon, already in jail on two trespassing charges, was served with the charge of animal cruelty Thursday.
Taylor was booked into the jail Sunday and remained there Monday on a $5,000 bond.
