For ducks' sake

Why did the duck cross the road?

To get the other side, of course.

It wasn't funny then, and it certainly isn't funny now. Especially not for the people clearing the unlucky ducks off the road.

Kim Stone said she recently picked up five dead animals during one drive down Cross Street. It's a task she likes even less than having to shoo the feathery flock from the two lanes of one-way traffic.

The raft, or group, of ducks in that area, which numbers well into the hundreds, has been a problem along the Junction Creek shoreline for about five years, according to Candace Newton. Recently, it has been amplified by people feeding the ducks, dropping off food and socializing with them.

Broken beaks and broken legs are hardly uncommon.

Any healthy fear they had of humans and vehicles has been completely wiped away — after spending only minutes on the street, it is clear that the birds weren't inclined to retreat from oncoming threats. Not even the big metal ones cruising at speeds around the 50-kilometre-per-hour mark.

Several ducks that called Cross Street home have been killed by vehicles driving by. The flock has become increasingly comfortable around humans and vehicles, since they are offered food from them, according to two concerned citizens. Photo by Jenny Jelen.

After watching the problem escalate, Stone and Newton have taken the welfare of the birds into their own hands. Newton said something as simple as warning signs, (i.e.: Watch For Ducks), could help prevent people from running them over.

“If it's city property, what's the problem with putting a sign at the top of the street that says 'watch for ducks?'” Newton said.

Installing a low fence between the green space and the road could help too. Halting the problem at its root by discouraging people from feeding the birds might also make a difference.

Shannon Dowling, a media spokesperson for the city, said anyone “keeping” animals, has to be zoned properly to do so.

“If you are feeding an animal, you are keeping an animal,” she said, adding that she will supply Northern Life with more information this week.

That's fine, Newton said, if people followed the bylaw. It might encourage the fowl to fly south for the winter months, like they were designed to do.

“(The ducks) aren't meant to withstand cold winters,” she said. “If you stop feeding them, they'll have to go someplace else.”

So far, Newton has had little luck convincing anyone of the problem.

“There's absolutely no care about these ducks,” Newton said, discouraged by all the roadblocks she had hit in her efforts to protect them.

When she contacted the city, she was told that someone would look into which department would be best suited to help. She's supposed to get that answer on Wednesday.

In the meantime, she has learned the space between the road and the river is technically city property, meaning it would be unlawful for her to build a fence on it. Newton said she would still consider doing it, if there wasn't a threat of having it taken down immediately.

Newton said she's concerned that the city has spent so much time and effort revitalizing Junction Creek, with the hopes of wildlife returning to it, to have those animals injured and killed.

And it's not just a few animals — on any given day, there are well over 100 birds hanging out in the space. Newton said if people knew just how many birds were, or could be, affected, they may be more inclined to take action.

Stay tuned to NorthernLife.ca for more on this story.

Posted by Arron Pickard