This is so clucked up.
A coldhearted commuter abandoned a chicken on a Queens train last week, leaving it to foul up the car enough during its overnight stay that the MTA was forced to take the locomotive out of service and animal control had to put the poor bird down.
The tiny white farm animal was discovered around 5:20 a.m. last Thursday, squatting inside a parked W train that was being queued up to enter service at the Astoria-Ditmars stop, the Daily News reported.
A chicken was ruthlessly abandoned on a W train overnight last Thursday. Christopher Sadowski
The frightened fowl had been sitting alone in the empty train car all night — and was so terrified that it was found cowering next to its own pile of filth.
It was later found to be sick, and was put to death.
“Sadly, the chicken was very ill and had to be humanely euthanized,” a spokesperson for the city’s Animal Care Centers told The Post.
It is not clear whether the chicken was sick before it was abandoned or if its illness led its owner to ditch it. Officials did not say what kind of illness the bird had.
Surveillance footage shows it’s cruel — and unidentified — owner carried the bird onto the train from an elevated platform somewhere in northern Queens at around 9:30 p.m., sources told The News.
He even showed off his egg-laying pet to other commuters, the video purportedly shows.
The poor bird was discovered just before the train was set to be put into service at the Astoria-Ditmars station. Stefano Giovannini
At some point, however, the heartless straphanger set the chicken down on a seat beside him and exited the car.
“The chicken remains seated,” one source told the outlet, opining that the bird was “properly, respectfully seated” during its ride, and “did not appear to violate any Transit rules.”
Crews apparently missed the bird when they conducted a walkthrough of the train and parked it on the layup track south of Astoria-Ditmars around 10:30 p.m.
The chicken was suffering from an illness and was euthenized. Valmedia – stock.adobe.com
After a cold night alone in the dark, the poor fowl was discovered by the next train crew the following morning.
The train operator reported that the bird was “refusing to leave” and noted that it had “soiled the interior of the car,” according to The News.
The train was deemed too dirty to go into its scheduled 6 a.m. service as a southbound W train — plus running the bird off the train into the crowd of commuters waiting to board at Astoria-Ditmars didn’t seem like a bright move.
The chicken spent the night alone in a railyard. UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Instead, rail control canceled the run and sent the train — with the chicken as its only passenger — to the Coney Island Yard.
The chicken was then passed into the hands of the NYCACC and put to death.
A spokesperson could not provide additional details on the animal’s health.
It’s also not clear whether’s heartless owner could face any charges for abandoning the poultry.