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> Abandoned
ducks & geese
By
Karen
Benzel, IBRRC
Go to any almost any park with
a pond and you’ll find abandoned domestic ducks and geese.
Most people probably don’t think about how the birds got
there or why, and most also don’t know the difference
between a wild duck or goose (which has feathers long enough
for flight, and muscles designed for quick take-offs) and a
domesticated one (which has been breed to be slow and
flightless). However, there is a big difference between an
animal that is born with all the instincts it needs to live
its life independently of humans, and a domesticated animal
that depends on humans for food and shelter.
Cats
and dogs are the most common domesticated animals, but go to
any pet shop and you will also find wild animals for sale as
pets. Lizards, turtles, tortoises, rats, parrots, and snakes
are all wild animals, many taken from their native habitats,
that are sold through the pet trade. So, it is
understandable why people get confused when they go to a
park pond and see wild ducks and geese mixed with domestic
ones.
Domestic ducks and geese fall into a gray area, not
classified as companion animals by the shelters, and not
considered wild by wildlife rescue organizations. Animal
shelters are not typically set up for injured wild animals,
especially waterfowl, and many will refuse to take them.
Since many vets aren’t experienced with birds, when a
homeless duck or goose is injured, it typically has nowhere
to go for help. In the spring, when wildlife rescue centers
are overwhelmed with orphans, some refuse to take hybrid
ducklings.
Live
Easter baskets
Much
like baby rabbits, ducklings, goslings and chicks are also
bought on impulse, by people who don’t know anything about
how to raise or house them, because they are “cute”. Usually
this happens around Easter when pet shops and feed stores
sell them as Easter basket stuffers. Some are even dyed,
just like Easter eggs, green, blue, lavender or pink. This
can be very dangerous for children. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reported in 1995 that chicks and baby
ducks, as well as reptiles, can transmit Salmonella
infection. Before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
banned the sale of turtles with a carapace length of 4
inches or less, thousands of children had become ill from
handling baby turtles. Hopefully the FDA will soon enact a
law banning the sale of baby ducks, geese and chicks in pet
stores.
It’s
hard to understand what people are thinking when they buy
pets on impulse and without educating themselves to the
animal’s needs and requirements. Animal shelters are filled
to capacity largely due to ignorance. And so, already
stressed from being sent over long distances in the mail,
most of these birds will die from lack of warmth, proper
nutrition and the stress of being handled by children. With
proper care, some will survive, but as their cuteness fades,
and as they become big, and “messy,” many will inevitably
make the car trip to a pond or lake to “fend for
themselves.” A few, very lucky ones, will be raised
properly, protected and loved. Although less common as pets,
ducks, geese and chickens have individual personalities and
character just like many other companion animals.
Disease outbreaks
Domestic ducks can also carry many diseases which wild
populations of ducks do not have immunity to and which there
is no cure for. New Castle Disease, duck virus enteritis (DVE),
fowl cholera, paratyphoid, avian tuberculosis, chlamydiosis,
bird flu and West Nile virus are just some of the diseases
that domestic ducks can transmit to wild flocks. In 1993,
Muscovy ducks, released into the canals in Venice,
California, tested positive for duck plague, duck virus
enteritis (DVE), a fatal herpes virus spread through feces.
Ducks and geese on the canals began to have violent seizures
and then died.
People were feeding the ducks and geese, which can cause
them to have more and larger clutches. The canals had become
overpopulated. This leads to stress from too many birds in
too small a habitat, resulting in fighting, injuries, death
and disease. All the ducks and geese in the canals were
rounded up by the California Department of Fish and Game and
killed out of fear that some birds might fly to other areas
and infect wild flocks.
This issue received international
attention, when residents tried to save their favorite birds
by taking them to secret locations in an attempt to save
them. However, it was the release of domestic ducks,
compounded by feeding and the resulting overpopulation that
was the real tragedy. (The full story and debate can be
found in the Newsletter of the
Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society,
March 1994.
What
do domestic ducks and geese look like?
Pekin
ducks, which look like Donald Duck, are the most common
ducklings sold. They are yellow when ducklings and turn pure
white with orange bills and feet as they mature. Rouens
originated in France and are domesticated mallards bred to
be very large. Cayuga ducks are black with a beautiful green
sheen. Khaki cambells look like light brown mallards. There
are many other domestic breeds but these are the most common
sold in feed stores and pet shops.
The
goslings that are sold, typically at feed stores, are breeds
like Chinese, African, and Embden. These grow to be quite
large and are distinguished by various features. Chinese
geese, which can be white, brown or a combination, have long
necks and a distinctive “knob” above their bill. Emdens have
shorter necks and blue eyes. African geese are shades of
gray with black bills.
You
won’t find Canada goose goslings for sale in a pet or feed
store. How come a wild caught parrot or tortoise can enter
the pet trade, yet a Canada goose can’t? Laws affecting
wildlife vary from country to country, but in the United
States, Federal laws protect migratory birds. It’s illegal
to capture, confine, trade, sell or even care for them if
they are injured without the proper permits. However, if you
go on the web, you’ll find people selling anything and
everything.
It’s
easy to see how people become confused when they see two
groups of birds interacting at a park pond, some wild and
some domestic. Canada Geese and mallards tend to tolerate
humans more than other species and may even come close and
take some bread; but come spring, they will migrate to their
summer home. The domestics cannot escape. If they run out of
food, they simply starve to death or die of complications
from malnutrition due to diets of bread and crackers.
So
what’s wrong with bread and crackers? What do waterfowl
naturally eat?
People derive great pleasure from taking their children to a
local park that has ducks and geese and feeding them. These
birds sometimes provide the only exposure to “wildlife” that
many city kids ever experience and so it could be argued
that the birds provide a service. But it is a disservice to
feed them, especially when it is a steady diet of bread,
crackers, chips, popcorn and the like. They can literally
starve to death if that is all they get to eat. Geese are
vegetarians and need access to vegetation. Ducks are mainly
vegetarian but they require some protein. Both will eat
grains and corn.
You
may see wild ducks and geese in a cornfield or wheat field
after harvest; they are eating the raw, unprocessed product,
a whole food. Along with grains they are getting grasses,
shoots of weeds, worms, snails, and bugs. In the water they
tip to graze shallow areas for water plants, consuming small
fish when they find them. Mallards “dabble” the surface of
the water for bugs, mosquito larvae and floating vegetation.
Birds fly to different areas for different foods, so they
have a wide variety of foods, but plants and vegetation
comprise most of their diet.
People mean well when they bring big bags of bread and
crackers and it is difficult for them to understand that
they are killing the birds with their kindness. Bread fills
the birds up, swelling in their stomach, but providing no
nutritional value. They feel “full” so they go and rest and
eventually they become habitual beggars, subsisting on
handouts and forgetting to eat their natural food. After
all, that is way more work to find! Another complicating
factor is that the habitat becomes overcrowded and there
actually may not be any natural food left. Yet the birds
that can’t fly can only go as far as they can walk. Stale
bread from an occasional visitor may be their only meal.
Helping Domestic Ducks and Geese
If
you live in a community that has an area where domestic
ducks and geese have been abandoned alert your local media
to this issue and ask that they do stories to educate the
public. At some point, every small lake and pond, just like
the Venice Canals, will become overpopulated. After all,
ducks can hatch 14 or more eggs and you can see how 15 ducks
can quickly become one hundred. Ask your local pet shop to
not sell “Easter” bunnies, ducklings and chicks out of
respect for the environment, the animals, and all the
non-profit organizations and local shelters that will end up
having to care for them.
When
you see flocks of abandoned geese and ducks, remember they
are not living the good life. A story in your local paper
might be a way to begin placing them into good homes. Ask
your local parks department if they can put up signs,
educating people not to abandon animals and that feeding
them only makes matters worse. If you would like to adopt
ducks, geese or both (being flock animals they do not do
well alone) contact your local shelter and animal control
and tell them to alert you should they ever need to place
birds. |
