Orlando police announced Monday the arrest of a woman named Gayle Wessel, who is accused of intentionally breaking goose eggs over the weekend at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando.
The arrest took place just past 6:30 on Sunday evening, after eyewitnesses told a city of Orlando park ranger they saw "a white female (Wessel) was breaking bird eggs that were in a nest within the park," according to the police report.
"I observed approximately 16 eggs broken that were approximately 8 feet to the southwest of the nest," wrote Officer Joshua Brooks on Sunday evening.
"Wessel advised she broke a few eggs because she thought they were rotten and saw other ducks eating the eggs. Wessel advised she broke approximately 3-5 eggs."
"Some eggs," said the OPD post, "were expected to hatch in 14 days."
Wessel was arrested for criminal mischief, with a damage estimate of $3,200, which caused some on Facebook to wonder why the charge didn't include animal cruelty.
An OPD spokesperson said through email, "[In] this case as in other similar cases in the past, eggs are considered property, and Animal Cruelty will apply to live animals."
A city volunteer arrived on scene and identified the nest as belonging to a greylag goose and said none of the eggs were rotten. The city owns the goose, and the eggs were worth approximately $200 apiece. Here's the full police report:
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