A man allegedly ripped off the head of a seagull on a New Jersey pier earlier this month, raising nerves among some who were disturbed by the violence of the attack.
Franklin Zeigler, 29, was charged after witnesses reported a July 6 beheading at Morey’s Landing in Wildwood, N.J., the North Wildwood Police Department said in a news release. Guilty of third-degree animal cruelty.
Ziegler allegedly killed the bird after it stole French fries from his daughter, WPVI-TV said, citing court documents.
Social media was quick to take notice, with condemnation pouring in from people disgusted by Ziegler’s alleged behavior.
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“What’s wrong with man?” one person wrote on Facebook, while another accused him of being “a danger to society.”
“But I do feel it all comes down to what is acceptable in our society about what is done to non-human beings,” the person added.
A third simply called Ziegler “Sicko.”
A fourth wrote: “A seagull snatched my reading glasses from my face at Circular Quay in Sydney because I was holding Maccas chips and ended up dropping my glasses at the Opera House, luckily not in port but i would never hurt it omg horrible people.
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Another said on
“We live in a scary world,” a sixth added.
Despite his arrest, a petition with nearly 45,000 signatures called on Ziegler to also receive mental health counseling and never be allowed to own animals.
“If he is allowed to continue without any real consequences or repercussions, who knows what his next violent outburst will be about,” the petition contends. “Another animal? A human? A child?” “
“The sheer brutality displayed by this man must be horrifying,” the report said, adding that Ziegler reportedly asked for a trash bag from a waterfront business while still holding the decapitated animal. seagull.
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Police said Ziegler was “angry and uncooperative regarding an unrelated police investigation,” which led to his arrest for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and later added animal cruelty charges during a subsequent investigation.