That’s fowl.
A Queens food truck worker captured a pigeon using a plastic bag and ominously brought it back to his cart, according to shocking viral footage of the incident.
A commuter waiting for a bus spotted the worker feeding the birds next to the MS Halal truck near the Rego Center Mall on Queens Boulevard on Dec. 29.
Oriana Biersack said she saw the man look around to see if anyone was watching and then tried unsuccessfully to grab one of the birds from a flock, at which point she started filming with her phone.
The man tried again and managed to grab one, shoving it in a plastic bag and returning to the food truck, the footage shows.
“Omg I can’t believe what I just saw!” Biersack wrote in a social media post. “I am beyond disgusted.”
She told The Post, “After that, I saw him grab water and he was rinsing his hand and swishing water in his mouth … He was sticking his fingers into his mouth and scrubbing his teeth with his fingers.
“I was shocked at what I was seeing but I didn’t record the rest,” added Biersack, who said she reported the incident to the city Department of Health.
The video received over 155,000 likes and 16,000 comments on different social media pages including the New Yorkers and Bukharian Community Instagram pages.
“I will never eat there again and after this,” one person commented.
“He just ruined it for food carts,” said another.
Residents were repulsed.
“It’s disgusting. After seeing that, I don’t trust this or any other ones,” said Jon C., a 39-year-old home health aid from Rego Park, gesturing to the different food carts lining the street.
On Tuesday, a different worker operating the MS Halal truck said the pigeon wrangler has since been fired.
“The boss saw the video and the same day told him he’s out,” Bangladesh-native Muhammad Mola told The Post. “He’s never coming back to our cart.”
But the nine-year cart veteran insisted the man — who he said is from his home country and was just filling in at the cart, which sells items such as meat patties, burgers and chicken or lamb over rice — was simply trying to rescue a bird whose legs got tied up.
He claimed the bird was freed after the ordeal.
“In our country everyone loves pigeons,” said Mola, 50.
“They take care of them. The law is different here and he’s new, he doesn’t know the law here.”
Bangladesh is home to many pigeon farms and several different species of the bird, according to reports. They are commonly reared for food as well as flying and racing.
The Health Department visited the cart Tuesday and found “no evidence of pigeons,” or any other violation.
“We plan to continue monitoring the situation and will take any appropriate action,” a spokesperson said.
After the incident, dozens flocked to 311 to file complaints about the Queens truck, reporting unsanitary conditions, animal abuse and “food from unapproved source.”
New one-star reviews on Yelp also referenced the viral video.
City records did not show any health code violations for MS Halal.
Mola said he wouldn’t be returning with the cart to that location.
“Business has slowed down,” he said.
“A lot of commotion — too many problems.”
Pigeons and their droppings are associated with diseases including cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, psittacosis, salmonella and E. coli.
Permits are needed to trap wild animals in New York, and only licensed exterminators can request permits to trap pigeons, according to 311.
Over the years, pigeon pirates have been nabbed for netting the birds to sell as live targets in shooting contests.
In 2019, a City Council bill made it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.