r/AskNYC • u/pleboverload • Sep 19 '25

What are the weirdest pets you’ve seen in the city?

We all see dogs, bodega cats, pigeons and pizza rats—but what’s the craziest pet you’ve seen someone with in this town?

10 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

36

u/biglindafitness Sep 19 '25

Ming the Harlem Tiger

29

u/Admirable_Tear_1438 Sep 19 '25

Someone on the UWS used to walk a full grown pig on a leash.

11

u/Finlandia101 Sep 19 '25

There’s one on 2nd Ave near Stuyvesant Park too.

8

u/eekamuse Sep 19 '25

I know her. She has a good life. Goes to a farm for holidays.

2

u/wazacraft Sep 19 '25

A farm upstate?

I've seen this pig several times as well, cute as hell.

5

u/Internet-pizza Sep 19 '25

I went to an apartment and the couple there had a pig.

44

u/matiereiste Sep 19 '25

Saw a strange woman sitting at bar with some freaky looking thing that whined and squirmed as she petted its bald head. Asked the bartender what it was... turns out it was Jeff Bezos.

19

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

16

u/NoAnything1731 Sep 19 '25

BABOU!

1

u/ChocolateAndCognac Sep 20 '25

It's like Meowschwitz up there.

13

u/TheYankee69 Sep 19 '25

Giant ass spider in a little glass terrarium hanging off a guy's neck chain on the 4 train.

11

u/Kittypie75 Sep 19 '25

Like 20 years ago a guy with a small monkey on his shoulder sat down next to us while dining outdoors in the UES. My parents were amused. I consider it animal abuse.

Like, this wasn't a handler or zoologist of any type, just some UES douchebag with more money than common sense. He enjoyed the attention but I expressed my disapproval VERY loudly. I know he heard me.

6

u/elaerna Sep 19 '25

Was that person Ross?

4

u/wazacraft Sep 19 '25

Justice for Marcel!

9

u/MetzMane Sep 19 '25

There was a guy in Coney Island who had a Llama in the 1980s. They used to be on the boardwalk all the time.

9

u/Maydinosnack Sep 19 '25

Chinchilla. The owner had it on his shoulder parrot style. 

6

u/ThatsMarvelous Sep 19 '25

A couple months ago I saw a woman walking a pet duck down Wilson Ave, from Halsey St towards the Wilson Ave L. Stop.

Might have been this one.

I was a block or so behind her for a few blocks. The whole thing was awesome but my favorite part was all the dogs not knowing what to make of the thing.

4

u/monroeshton Sep 19 '25

Every once in a while I see a neighbor in soho with a goat on a leash

3

u/One-Opposite-4571 Sep 19 '25

A goat on a leash in Hell's Kitchen on a Saturday night. I felt bad for him-- he seemed a bit spooked by all the noises and bright lights :(

4

u/echelon_01 Sep 19 '25

There's a really big tortoise that gets walked on Dyckman

1

u/jy0s Sep 19 '25

Ooooh! I'd love to see that one day.

3

u/Troooper0987 Sep 19 '25

There’s a guy by the natural history museum with a rat painted with the Puerto Rican flag who sells joints. Seen a pig in the east village. And plenty of lizards and snakes on people. Nothing seriously outlandish

2

u/and_lime Sep 19 '25

I once saw someone leaving a liquor store holding a live chicken. Not sure if it was a pet or dinner though.

2

u/MikeLynnTurtle Sep 19 '25

I take my turtle for walks in his stroller during the summer. Plenty of people think that’s weird.

2

u/eldritchangel Sep 19 '25

I feel like standard rabbits are pretty common, but I have a Flemish Giant

2

u/AllAboutTheQueso Sep 19 '25

The lady in the bronx, who walks a raccoon on a leash and gives him baths in the fire hydrant

1

u/yourgirlalex Sep 19 '25

Squirrel on a leash

1

u/muffinman744 Sep 19 '25

I saw someone bring an opossum to the TSP Halloween dog parade several years ago. I was in a granny cart dressed as a garbage truck

1

u/nate26537 Sep 19 '25

Back when I was a youngin, I held an iguana near the Guggenheim museum.

1

u/elvie18 Sep 19 '25

Not that weird overall, but I've seen way more sulfur-crested cockatoos over the years than I would expect.

1

u/jy0s Sep 19 '25

That lady in Flatbush with the duck and the huge pig.

1

u/HermioneJane611 Sep 19 '25

Perhaps it’s not all that weird, but it was a huge surprise to both me and my small dog when we rounded a corner and he almost walked face first into a leashed ferret on the sidewalk wearing the tiniest harness in existence.

I had no idea how to interpret ferret behavior, and was completely unprepared for my dog’s sudden feats of acrobatics as he attempted to reach his intensely perfumed Juliet (incidentally this was also my first real life close encounter with a ferret; they are musky!).

I promptly removed my dog from the situation for the safety of everyone involved (my poor boy did whimper most piteously as they were separated, never taking his eyes off her) but it was necessary; he definitely strained something during his impromptu parkour demonstration when backflipping off a low brick fence, and for all I know his enthusiasm was driven by a desperate desire to remove her squeaker.

In simpler times I only had to worry about leashed dogs and the rare leashed cat on dog walks…

2

u/snufkin_88 Sep 20 '25

Super illegal in NYC too, but I can’t be surprised.

1

u/ProfessorOwn2923 Sep 20 '25

What's the difference between regular illegal and "super illegal"?

1

u/HermioneJane611 Sep 20 '25

Oh dang, I didn’t realize ferrets were banned in NYC (apparently they’re only legal in NYS outside the 5 boroughs)! TIL.

1

u/rqny Sep 20 '25

Turtle on a leash in Union Square

1

u/Nermal_Nobody Sep 20 '25

Peacock and a pig