Sitting Ducks

I don’t know why this local news story has affected me so deeply. Maybe it’s remembering when my children were small and I took them to Bedford Boys Ranch to feed the ducks. I loved watching the kids squeal with glee when they saw a Momma duck and her band of babies waddling beside the water. They laughed with delight watching those babies swimming in the water. We fed them a ton of Wonder Bread.

A week or so ago, the evening news reported that the duck population at the Bedford Boys Ranch, in Bedford, Texas, is in trouble. It seems that the entire pond where they live is a breeding ground for a virus (and has been infested for years, according to the report). The reporter called it a “duck virus,” but technically it is called “Duck Virus Enteritis (DVE).” It’s a herpes infection that can be deadly to waterfowl, though it doesn’t affect “humans, dogs, cats, beaver, fish, or turtles.”

Every day, the animal control officers from the city remove several duck carcasses. That has to be a depressing job.

Part of the problem, is that the pond is overpopulated. There are about 150 ducks that live there, and the population swells during migratory season by several hundred. Well meaning folks like me go in there and feed the ducks bread, which fills them up but doesn’t give them the nutrients they need to stay healthy and fight off disease.

Those poor critters are sitting ducks!

I know that the city is addressing the overpopulation problem by “addling” the eggs. When workers find a duck’s nest, they gently shake the eggs until the yokes break, then put the eggs back in the nest. That way Mama Duck doesn’t lay more eggs, but I bet she gets darned tired of waiting for the eggs to hatch.

That may reduce the population of ducks, but it doesn’t address the problem of the virus. It doesn’t sound like there are any good solutions. You can read what the City of Bedford has to say about it here. Though there is a vaccination for DVE, rounding up all the ducks would be difficult. Some of them waddle into the neighborhoods and might miss out on the vaccination. I’d like to see the cowboys who participate in a duck roundup. I guess they would wear waders instead of cowboy boots.

The only way to eradicate the virus is to “remove the ducks,” dredge the pond, and burn the vegetation around it. Yes, “remove the ducks” means “kill them.” By doing that, the turtles, frogs, fish an other critters that call the pond home would also be sacrificed. That sounds like a pretty cruel option.

For now, the Bedford Boys Ranch ducks are quarantined to the pond. They can’t even be adopted out to folks who might let them waddle around their back yards for the rest of their natural days (however many that may be). This supposedly will help stop the spread of the virus.

But, wait (this is the part that gets me):
Migratory birds come to this pond and can carry away the virus!

Y’all, that means that on some placid pond in another state, some farmer’s beloved birds are being infected with Duck Virus by migrating waterfowl that had a pit stop in Bedford, Texas.

It may be daffy of me to think this, but I think the City of Bedford has a responsibility to deal with this Duck Dilemma. What do you think?

If they asked me for suggestions, I’d say that although dredging and burning is expensive, and I hate to think of murdering that much wildlife, it’s about the only responsible option. I wonder if the city could adopt out the ducks (with a stipulation that they be kept quarantined in somebody’s back yard)? They could save as many turtles and frogs as they could…and then…do what they need to do.

I haven’t been able to find more news on the story. It’s just one of those “fillers” that our local news uses to titillate us. I hate it when those reporters do that to me.

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. Give Me No Lip
2. The Best Thing About A Carnival
3. I’ve Got My Eye On YOU
4. Optimism Virus to Battle the Cold Virus
5. I Want To Drink Your Blood

Tagged as: birds, Critters, Talkin' 'bout Texas