Just when you thought you’d seen it all, someone walks onto the subway with a duck on a leash. Yeah, that’s not a metaphor, an actual quacking duck on a red leash.
So, you’re a straphanger, you want a dog but you don’t want to deal with that pesky “your dog must fit in a bag” subway rule… one commuter thought, “I know, I’ll walk my duck instead.” It’s close to that dog-on-a-leash experience and about the most “only in New York” thing to happen this week.
Instagram user @giant.life caught the happy quacky white duck on a red leash on the G train in Brooklyn Monday. In the video, the owner can be heard saying “He’s a pet […] We got him when he was a chick.”
Gothamist reached out to Giant.life (real name Max Kirchoff) and he laid out what went down:
“I heard this ‘quack quack’ from this lady’s arms, then she let the duck down to walk around with the leash on it […] It was so weird […] Someone was asking her questions about it, […] she had a pit bull and they really liked each other […] Basically the duck thinks that it’s a dog now. She was very matter of fact about it.”
It is illegal to have a duck as a pet in New York, for the animal’s safety and well-being more than anything else. Thankfully the subway wasn’t too crowded, other wise the only thing that would have saved the situation would have been pancakes and hoisin sauce.
Here’s the clip: