What has two legs, feathers and rides the subway? A duck, of course.
The subway can be a wild place filled with “Showtime” dancers and riders with questionable food choices, but on Monday some straphangers were treated to a different kind of New York moment: a duck on a leash.
A video of the feathered friend was posted to Instagram by Gowanus resident Maximillian Kirchoff, who said he got on the Church Avenue-bound train in Williamsburg at the Metropolitan Avenue stop around 7:45 p.m. when he heard what he thought was a small white dog issue two loud “quacks” instead.
“I looked up to see that the white dog in the woman’s arms was actually a duck, a few feet from me,” Kirchoff said. “It quacked a bit more and she let him down to walk around the subway, on its leash.”
That’s when Kirchoff whipped out his phone and started recording. The duck can be seen in the video quacking and waddling around in the subway car, apparently unaware of his charms on curious fellow riders.
One straphanger can be heard inquiring about the duck.
“He’s a pet,” the apparent owner can be heard saying in the video. “We got him when he was a chick.”
“She also said that the duck lived with her pit bull and basically believes itself to be a dog,” Kirchoff added. “She then got off at the next stop, walking the duck as a small dog might be.”
Kirchoff said he found the entire encounter amusing since as he was leaving dinner, just before getting on the train, a friend noticed he had bird poop on his shoulder.
“I laughed and she told me it was good luck,” he said.
Keeping a duck as a pet is illegal in New York City, according to the city Department of Health. Squirrels, hedgehogs, pigs and ferrets are also among the list of outlawed “native or exotic wildlife” in the city.
In late July, a man was spotted riding an uptown 3 train with a giant peacock on his arm. The bird, which appeared to be taxidermied, was said to be on its way to a bar.
