Florida: Little brat Julian Marquez, 19, accused of throwing chunk of pine bark and hitting flamingo at Busch Gardens

FLORIDA -- A Lee County man has been charged following another incident of animal cruelty at Busch Gardens in Tampa.

According to Tampa police, witnesses saw 19-year-old Julian Antonio Marquez throw what looked like a rock and hit a flamingo at the theme park around 5:49 Friday evening.

He hit the flamingo so hard with this object that it fell down.

An official with Busch Gardens tells News Channel 8 after evaluation, they determined the flamingo was hit with a chunk of pine bark, not a rock.

The official tells us the flamingo was immediately examined by a veterinarian on-staff, is back with the herd and doing fine, but is constantly being monitored.

He’s now facing an aggravated animal cruelty charge.

Marquez has been released on $2,000 bond.

SECOND INCIDENT OF ANIMAL ABUSE RECENTLY 

Earlier this year, Joseph Anthony Corrao, who was with his family, for some unknown reason climbed over the barrier, snatched up a flamingo named “Pinky” and violently threw her to the ground breaking her leg.

Her leg was nearly severed due to Joseph Corrao's attack and was just dangling by a piece of skin. Pinky's injuries were so severe she had to be euthanized.

Pinky was hatched at the park in 1996. She was an ambassador animal for them, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Likely because she was used to being handled and around people, she didn't even run when Joe Corrao approached her.

Pinky was a star at Busch Gardens because of her flamenco dancing routines.

“Pinky loved to dance for our guests,” park spokesperson Karen Varga-Sinka told WTVT-TV. “Her keepers say that this is not a trained behavior, but a natural behavior she loved to show off. Flamingos are filter feeders, using their beaks to strain tasty morsels out of the water around them as they wade.

"To stir up the tastiest treats, flamingos will stamp their webbed feet. Pinky often performed this toe-tapping behavior out of the water for guests.”

 Pinky's senseless torture and death was met with sorrow and outrage across Tampa Bay.

Corrao has THREE drunk driving convictions. In one, he was drunk with his children and tried to get one of them to drive the car for him.

Corrao has also been previously arrested and charged with ANIMAL CRUELTY. 

Corrao was declared incompetent (insane) to stand trial in February and was ordered a month later to undergo in-home competency training for his aggravated animal cruelty charge trial.

If Corrao is insane and derives pleasure from torturing and killing animals, how many other animals has he tortured and killed? If he is insane he needs to be locked up and kept away from animals.

(WAVY - June 3, 2017)

Earlier:

• Florida: ‘Pinky’ the flamingo dies after attack by man at Busch Gardens
• Florida: Joseph Anthony Corrao: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know About the Man Accused of Killing Pinky the Flamingo
• Florida: Mental evaluation for Joseph Corrao, the accused of killing Bush Garden's famous Pinky the flamingo
• Florida: Joseph Corrao spends his time collecting disability checks, getting drunk, driving while drunk, and abusing animals - not just Pinky the flamingo. But now he says he's incompetent and "doesn't understand" the animal cruelty charges against him