Suspected animal abuser in New York park was just man roasting guinea pig at barbecue area

A man roasting a guinea pig in Prospect Park, New York, on Saturday morning was grilled by police after a 911 caller assumed he was an animal abuser. Officers responded to an emergency call about someone mistreating a squirrel in the park, police said.

But the suspected abuse turned out to be lunch in the making. The man, who said he was from Ecuador, was roasting the squirrel-sized animal on a 4-foot wooden skewer over a barbecue grill at about 9:30am. The man said the animal was a guinea pig.



It's legal to grill meat as long as it's in one of the park's designated barbecue areas, which was the case in this instance, an NYPD spokesman said. Police did not take any action against the man.

It's illegal to hunt or trap, and presumably eat, park animals such as squirrels, and squirrels can't be kept as pets in New York City, city law says. Though popular as pets in the United States, guinea pigs are a common entrée called cuy in South America.