A gardener has been jailed after pleading guilty to intentionally running over nine ducklings with a lawnmower.
Jason Scott Falbo II, 24, slaughtered the ducks while mowing lawns on 2 May in Wellington, Palm Beach, Florida.
Boyd Jentzsch, a resident in the area, had been feeding the mother duck and her 11 offspring with his family when Falbo targeted the animals with his ride-on lawnmower, slaughtering several of the birds.
When Jentzsch told Falbo to stop, the gardener “smiled” and “backed up” his mower reversing over more of the ducklings, according to reports.
The mother duck and her four remaining ducklings avoided the mower. They ended up in a nearby lake where two of the ducklings later drowned from their injuries.
A police report quoted Falbo as saying: “They were in my path, so I just kept mowing.”
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The family contacted Animal Care Control and the police who later arrested Falbo.
According to WFTV Jentzsch said: “I thought he was going to run over my toes. He wasn’t even cutting the grass. He went right toward [the ducklings] and veered to the left.”
In response to the incident Falbo’s employer, Wayne Soni, from Reliable Lawn Care, said that it was Falbo’s first day in the job.
Falbo was sentenced to a combined three years of probation at Palm Beach County Court on Thursday, the first year of which he will spend in jail.
As well as pleading guilty to the nine animal cruelty charges Falbo was also convicted for domestic battery prior to attacking the ducklings.
