×
×
homepage logo
SUBSCRIBE

Duck dumping a big issue in local ponds

By Ashtyn Asay - | Mar 4, 2022

Courtesy Amy Needham

The sign at they BYU Duck Pond warning visitors about the dangers of releasing domestic ducks.

Those buying ducklings on a whim this spring may want to reconsider.

Each year, domestic ducklings are purchased from feed stores, then promptly released into local ponds months later when they start to go through an awkward adolescence.

While it may seem as though releasing an unwanted duck into a pond would be the humane thing to do, according to Amy Needham with Puddle Ducks Rescue, most ducks that are bought from feed stores and subsequently released into the wild survive for a month — at most — before freezing, starving to death or being killed.

“What you are doing, whether you know it or not, it is animal cruelty. And you should only be purchasing animals that you are prepared to care for for their natural lifespan,” Needham said

According to Needham, this happens because domestic ducks are not equipped for life in the wild. They struggle to forage for food having depended on humans to feed them in the past.

Courtesy Amy Needham

A domestic duck, left, standing next to a wild duck.

Additionally, they have been bred for generations as a food source, making them much larger than wild ducks. All this extra weight makes them unable to fly. While wild ducks are able to flee from predators and move to warmer climates during the cold months, dumped pet ducks are stuck on the ground.

“It’s like a dog versus a wolf,” Needham said. “One’s wild, one can take care of itself … domestic ducks they don’t fly, they don’t have instincts, and they essentially just get killed in various ways.”

Not only is dumping pet ducks inhumane, but according to state law, it is also illegal and can wreak havoc on the water quality of local ponds.

Highland Glen Park in Highland City is a popular spot for kayaking and fishing, despite the signs that have been posted around the pond for the last two summers warning visitors of unsafe water conditions.

According to Erin Wells, the public information officer for Highland City, the water has become contaminated because of the many ducks, both wild and domestic, that fill the water with E. coli.

Courtesy Amy Needham

A domestic duck, left, and a wild duck.

“We end up with high E. coli levels because there are so many ducks … their feces cause the E. coli levels to rise in the pond, especially during a drought season where we’re not getting as much water into the pond to diffuse the amount that we’re getting there,” Wells said.

The domestic ducks that are released into Highland Glen Pond can’t fly away and, if they don’t succumb to the elements first, they breed. This can cause water quality issues for generations.

“The ducks that do survive, they’re not equipped, they’re not migratory ducks so they live at Highland Glen Pond year-round,” Wells said. “And when they’re not leaving they’re breeding and continuing to increase in population and that’s just leading to water quality problems for us,”

When there are too many ducks in the pond, city officials are forced to call in the Division of Wildlife Resources to reduce the population, a practice that is both grim and expensive.

“We don’t want people to dump ducks there in the first place because it’s illegal, the ducks likely will die,” Wells said. “And if they don’t die it ends up causing issues from a health standpoint with the water quality, and then yes, we do have to spend some of our budget money to manage the population of the ducks.”

“Whether it’s a bunny, whether it’s a duck, the city will end up killing them if the natural elements won’t get them,” Needham said. “I think people need to hear it bluntly.”

Highland Glen Park is not unique in its battle against domestic ducks, but rather one example of a statewide problem.

Needham doesn’t think duck dumping is done with malicious intent, but rather because of a lack of education on what happens to the ducks once they are released into the wild.

“I strongly believe that a majority of people dumping ducklings or any other animal — I truly believe most of them don’t realize they are committing animal cruelty,” Needham said. “I think they genuinely believe that this is what’s best for the animal and that it doesn’t actually hurt them.”

Needham was an integral part of getting a sign put up at the Brigham Young University Duck Pond educating visitors on the repercussions of dumping pet ducks. Since the sign was put up, Needham has said no more ducks have been released into the pond.

Highland City is working with a local Eagle Scout to design and put up a similar sign at Highland Glen Park, in hopes it will have a similar effect.

Both Needham and Wells urge those who are considering buying ducklings to only do so if they are committed to caring for the animal for its entire lifespan, which can be anywhere from 5-10 years depending on the breed.

“Often people will buy ducks or bunnies or things around Easter and springtime because they’re little and cute and then they get big and they get harder to take care of and aren’t what they imagined they were going to be like,” Wells said. “They assume that they can just release the animals into the wild and they’ll be fine but domestic animals are not set up to live in the wild… they think that what they’re doing is humane and everything is going to be fine, it’s not going to be fine they animals could suffer, could die.”

Puddle Ducks Rescue and others are actively fighting to save dumped domestic ducks, but especially during the spring, it’s common for these rescues to fill up with unwanted animals.

For those who have already purchased domestic ducks that they can no longer care for, as a last resort, Needham recommended that they Wasatch Wanderers Rescue to discuss their options. However, she stressed that nobody should purchase ducks with the intent of eventually handing them off to a rescue.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)