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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.
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