CITY PLANS TO EUTHANIZE 200 MUSCOVY DUCKS

[Cheryl McQueen]

WHAT CAN I DO!!!!!

City plans to euthanize 200 'nuisance' Muscovy ducks


Published: Friday, May 8, 2009 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 8, 2009 at 12:36 a.m.

By Susan Latham Carr
Staff writer

The city of Ocala's Recreation and Parks Department is planning to euthanize the
roughly 200 Muscovy ducks they say are a nuisance at Tuscawilla Park.

Yet, across the street from the park, city firefighters have adopted as their
mascot a mother duck that is sitting on a dozen eggs outside their station.

"We are eagerly watching and waiting for the eggs to hatch," said Ocala Fire
Rescue Battalion Chief Brian Stoothoff. "They certainly are cute."

Apparently the firefighters are not the only ones captivated by the ducks.
People have been feeding the park ducks, which keep multiplying. But that is
creating a problem for the city's Recreation Department, which is planning to
eliminate the non-native birds.

"When you have too many ducks in one area, they become diseased," Recreation and
Parks Department Director Kathy Crile said. "The habitat can't support all of
them."

The ducks also are taking over the habitat for other native wildlife.

And, they are messy.

Julie Johnson, enforcement manager for Recreation and Parks, said the average
adult Muscovy duck eliminates about one-third of a pound of waste each day.

"Muscovy ducks create a lot of bacterial problems," Johnson said.

The waste is in the water and on the sidewalks at the park, and neighboring
businesses have complained about the mess the ducks leave on their property.

Johnson has been trying since December to find a way to get rid of the ducks.

"You can't take them and let them go somewhere," Johnson said. "It's against the
law to relocate."

Lt. Joy Hill of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it is
a second-degree misdemeanor to release non-native wildlife.

Hill said Belleview had a similar problem with Muscovies on Lake Lillian a few
years ago.

The Muscovies, which originated in South America, mate with other native ducks
and destroy habitat, she said.

"Exotics are a huge problem in Florida, and ducks are just one of the issues,"
Hill said.

When she learned she could not move the ducks, Johnson started taking the eggs.

"When you pick up the eggs, then the mother just goes and lays more," Johnson
said. "They get really worn down. They lose nutrients. Then you get unhealthy
ducks, which we have anyway because people feed them."

Johnson said ducks that are fed bread and crackers get full and no longer eat
what nature intended them to eat. That suppresses their immune systems. After a
while, the birds learn to beg and become aggressive.

When taking the eggs did not work, Johnson began shaking the eggs and putting
them back in the nest. The mother would sit on the eggs and not lay any more.
But, eventually, the eggs have to be taken away and when picked up, they
explode.

"They are really gross and it smells really bad and it's rotten," Johnson said.
"It's a health issue."

The city wants to restore habitat for native wildlife at the park and has hung
some wood-duck boxes to attract native ducks and plans to plant cypress trees on
the west side of the pond.

People cannot keep the Muscovy ducks as pets unless they cage them, Johnson
said.

So, she has talked to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about having that
agency capture the ducks and humanely euthanize them.

"We have tried everything," Johnson said. "At this point, that's our option.
It's very humane."

The USDA, for about $2,000, will tranquilize the ducks with alpha chloralose,
fed to them on bread. The ducks then are picked up, put in pens and taken off
site. They are then placed in a CO2 chamber, where they die in about 20 seconds.

"It's not anything I take pleasure in, but it's necessary," said Johnson, a
self-declared animal lover. "I think it's sad, but I will sleep at night because
it's the right thing to do."

The contract with USDA still has to be written and approved by the city before
the birds are euthanized. Johnson estimates that will take about a month or
month-and-a-half.

Stoothoff did not know the ducks may be euthanized.

"I haven't heard that," Stoothoff said. "Wow. Let's hope this one has a good
life."

Contact Susan Latham Carr at 867-4156 or susan.carr@ starbanner.com.

[cakie]

well this is mankinds " quick fix" because he screwed up the natural order of the environment so to fix or eliminate the problem is to ' kill it". they take away their wetlands and natural habitats and now take away their life ...leave it to man to destroy the good God made.

[Athena89]

There needs to be a direction to go here to take action.

Since this duck is an invasive species, than that is a problem, but there are more humane ways of handling that than just killing them, so please call org's like WWF, NWF, Defenders of Wildlife to see if they can help. You can find contact info for them on thier websites. (you can click on their banners on the front page of this group or google the names to get there)

Call them, dont email, as that will take too long. You are going to have to do the legwork here but it is possible. Just work hard. I have way too much on my plate to start this, so you need to be willing to make the calls, etc.
Maybe the ducks can be transported back to South America or some other alternative. Its worth asking.

This is another example of why this world has to stop the importation of non native species, whether wildlife or even plant species. The consequences are horrible.


Please get this info as soon as possible.

[Val]

This is wrong, soo wrong! I live in Las Vegas and in a Lake community, we have a flock of Muscovy Ducks and they are so extremely sweet and enjoyable to be with within our lake community. The people of the area love them and enjoy their funny personalities and unique ways. This breed is not protected under the Wildlife Bird Act therefore unfortunelty and sadly they are subjected to abuse. This breed is native to South America and they have made their way into the states like it or not people, we need to be humane with these ducks and preserve them with smart management. Julie Johnson writes with zero knowledge of these ducks, she states false accusations that she cannot back up with facts, Muscovys do not carry bacteria in their droppings, in fact they are one of the few domestic ducks that carry a limited amount of diseases, they are very clean ducks. Muscovys do not destroy habitat more than any other wild duck, nor do they mate with other native ducks becuase they prefer to mate with their own kind! Also, Muscovys are fantastic pets and they DO NOT NEED TO BE CAGED, there are hundreds of Muscovy pet owner sites to varify this. Also one other bit of info for Ms Julie Johnson about the Muscovy Duck is, back in WW2 Corporral Haggis was a Muscovy Duck who earned an Italian Metal for bravery, check it out its very cool it just might inlight some of you, there is an actual book out on this story. Ms Johnson you can you really sleep at night, hmmm I bet so, I think your dreaming of a promotion or maybe your name up in lights of the one who solved the muscovy duck problem, sorry to inform you Ms Johnson you are totaly off base, not one bit knowledgable at all on this duck species or nor have you done any research on this breed of duck at all, becuase everything you stated about the breed is unfounded. But you Ms Johnson stand ready and proud to kill 200 innocent birds becuase you are a ... hmmm ... true animal lover ....

[Athena89]

if you still have time... get in touch with any local chapter of a wildlife or environmental org and gather all the facts. Then try to present this to the City... try to demand a public hearing by using the local TV News stations to help. Present the facts for this case and show that there can be a humane solution for this problem.

You gotta try... make the calls and get some help. Others are surely concerned about this as well. Also, find your local Audubon chapter. They can help too. Call everyone you can... and get the local news to help. Contact your Mayor too. Get others involved.

Cases like this have been worked out in cities all over. Try searching everywhere online for good help info.

you can do it. Then if you get something going... we can all help with it too.

ALSO, contact your local representative.

to find all of your officials:

WWF: Find Your Representatives

Learn about and contact your federal and state elected officials.

http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=can_domore_re...


Write Your Representative - find them here:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml


Find your senators, use the search box in the upper right hand corner of web page:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm


Find Your Legislator
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lobby_lookup

[Belles]

Have they considered creating an ordinance not to feed the ducks and let mother nature handle them? Gee, guess not.

So when the ducks are gone and the bugs come back, they'll be complaining once again about bugs!