How a Fla. deputy’s idea to save ducks turned into a program benefiting inmates [Video]

By Sarah RoebuckCorrections1

KEY WEST, Fla. — Back in 1994, a deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office had an idea to save ducks that were getting hit on a nearby road.

Deputy Becky Herrin’s idea turned into what is now the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Animal Farm, a USDA-certified zoo at the Stock Island Detention Center in Key West, WPLG reports.

The farm started as a haven for homeless animals in an area underneath the jail facility after Herrin suggested a space to protect the ducks from drivers, according to the report. The first residents were the ducks and a group of chickens.

Not long after the fowl were brought to the area, the SPCA in Miami called the MCSO and asked if the facility could house a blind horse that was found abandoned.

Using inmate labor, MCSO said a space was created for the horse, and the animal farm was born.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay said while the …