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71-Year-Old Man Says He Was Attacked For Trying To Prevent Removal Of Ducks He’s Been Feeding For 22 Years

[Not the duck described in the story] (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Alexander Pease Contributor
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An elderly Florida man claims he was physically beaten for attempting to halt the removal of ducks he’d long been feeding from his neighborhood.

Alongside his wife, Art Cosgrove, 71, of Broward County, Florida told Local 10 that the couple had been feeding the ducks for over two decades – but others in the neighborhood wanted the animals out. Cosgrove said he tried to stop his neighbors from ousting the ducks but got “beat up” for it, according to the outlet.

Cosgrove and his wife had steadily set money aside to buy some 300 lbs. of birdseed each month out of their budget in order to feed the ducks. “She loves the ducks and I love the ducks,” he told the outlet.

But the ducks border Cosgrove’s property, and on Friday others in the area gathered to get rid of the birds that locals called a “nuisance.” People showed up on Cosgrove’s land to attempt to begin the effort. (RELATED: Woman Faces Animal Cruelty Charges After Officials Recover 49 Mini Horses and 39 Chickens)

“I said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Cosgrove said he asked the group.

As a result of the incident, the man was hospitalized and checked-in in a bloody state, eventually “needing staples” in his head for one particular gash, the outlet reported. “I was on the ground when they were kicking and hitting me with a stick,” he said. (RELATED: Massachusetts Man Wanted For Allegedly Stabbing Elderly Man More Than Two Dozen Times)

The group did take the ducks from the property.

When Cosgrove sought to reclaim the birds, police officers prevented him from doing so under threats of carrying out such an act being under the legal umbrella of burglary.

“The police told me they were going to arrest me because I touched the cages they were in,” Cosgrove said.

On Monday, the Cosgrove couple confronted the local police and demanded that the case be revisited, according to the outlet.