Rescuing Ducks out of Water

By KIM LINK
President, Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary

Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary in Lebanon currently has a full shelter of rescued ducks. We have twelve animals in need of loving and safe homes and nearly a dozen more on ponds, waiting to be rescued. Most of these ducks were prior pets that were dropped off and abandoned on public ponds.

Left to right: Joker, Echo, Jeru, Popcorn, Friday, Puddles Crocodile Stanley, Amadeus & Tugger

Things are pretty quiet here in spring and summer. People enjoy feeding waterfowl throughout the warmer seasons and since the animals seem happy enough, they don’t tend to contact us for rescue assistance until the cold weather is actually upon us and the animals’ lives are in immediate danger. Domestic ducks and geese are non-flying and can’t migrate or roost safely in trees, so when their ponds freeze over they tend to get trapped and frozen into the ice, suffer frostbite or end up predated. When the cold weather hits, our list of rescues is long and time is of the essence.

We dream of the day when we have a jet ski to capture these discarded pets. In the meantime, we just have to make multiple trips to the same sites until we are able to coax every last one out of the water and into netted areas where we can catch them. In a recent rescue endeavor volunteers traveled to a park on four separate occasions to get every last duck off of the ponds and into safety.

Nearly all of the ducks who have come into our sanctuary have suffered from and are treated for foot, leg and hip ailments caused by land and water hazards as well as malnutrition. The cause of the malnutrition can be witnessed by anyone visiting a pond that has ducks or geese on it. Bread, chips, pastries, crackers, cereal and cracked corn are the most common snacks fed to these animals by visitors. People mean well; however, ducks and geese need plenty of vegetation and protein in their diets. When they fill up on these snacks, they are discouraged from foraging for the grass, bugs, earthworms, small fish and frogs that satisfy their nutritional needs. The result of this is often lameness and deteriorated feather quality. We ask people who do not have access to duck food to substitute these unhealthy snacks with an un-medicated, small, round cat kibble (no urinary tract, hairball or other special formulas), which is a much healthier alternative for the animals and will help prevent these nutritional problems.

Anyone wishing to learn more about our sanctuary, basic waterfowl care or learn more about the animals residing in our shelter can visit our website: www.majesticwaterfowl.org. Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary is an IRS recognized non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Winter Wish List

In addition to their highly nutritious Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance diet, we currently go through four bags of 5 oz leaf lettuce every day and a bail of bedding hay every two days. The lettuce and hay are proving to be the most costly of our winter expenses. If you or someone you know can be of any assistance in supplying leaf lettuce (not iceberg) or clean bails of bedding hay (no thorns or poison ivy) please contact us through the website.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend an enormous thank you to the staff of All Friends Animal Hospital in Norwich for treating so many animals so kindly and on very short notice. Thank you to the Benders for your generous assistance with our new sanctuary. Also, a heartfelt thanks to Bridget for all of the time you have volunteered rehabilitating and enriching the lives of rescued animals this year.

Article originally published in Lebanon Life, Vol. 15, Issue 1 January 2006