JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three young children were recently seen pelting geese with fruit at Colonial Manor Lake Park in the Miramar neighborhood near San Marco, according to residents.
Two geese, affectionately referred to as "Momma" and "Papa" by neighbors, reside near the lake on San Jose Boulevard, which is also known as the "Duck Pond."
But the geese have become victims of what neighbors described as animal cruelty.
"It sounds like, in this situation, the kids were just doing it to be mean and that's just not OK," neighbor Cheryl Pearthree said. "It's not acceptable for anybody."
Residents told News4Jax on Wednesday that three, unsupervised children, who all appeared to be younger than 10 years old, were spotted pelting the geese with kumquats, a type of small citrus fruit that grows locally on trees and looks like a very small tangerine.
"It's a cruel thing to do and parents need to supervise their kids," neighbor Joe Honeycutt said. "But I worry about them chasing the ducks and geese into the street and then somebody killing the geese with a car."
But there's another scenario Honeycutt worries about.
"They could scare the geese, have them jump in the pond and the alligator's waiting there to snap them up," he said.
According to neighbors, a 5-foot-long alligator now resides in the pond, which is why they're also concerned about unsupervised children near the water.
"A kid getting in the pond would be bad because of the alligator," Honeycutt said.
Residents hope parents can use this as a teaching moment for their children about what's considered animal cruelty and how animals should be treated.
"It's never too early to start teaching our kids those lessons," Pearthree said. "It's just not how we treat other living things."
According to neighbors, one person did stop and tell the children what they were doing was wrong.
Fortunately, the geese were not injured.