According to this Associated Press article, it is illegal to possess a live rooster in New York City. That's good to know. Also illegal: biting off its head.
Even if you have a good reason, as Humberto Rodriguez said he did. After agents (apparently ASPCA agents who responded to a complaint) found a headless rooster on the fire escape, Rodriguez told them he bit the rooster's head off because he blamed it for injuring his pet pigeon. For which there is only one penalty.
Having personally beheaded his pet to keep order in the household, and then admitting the same, Rodriguez was arrested on charges of animal cruelty and faces up to a year in prison. The ASPCA released a photo depicting an X-ray of the decapitated chicken, which made me wonder why, exactly, somebody bothered to do an X-ray. The cause of death is relatively clear. This was not a case for CSI. I guess it is to get the publicity effect in the least offensive way possible.
A spokesman said Friday night that he did not know whether Rodriguez had a lawyer, so, New York readers, here's your chance.
Link: AP via My Way News
