Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League: Feeding of Ducks and Ducklings Puts Them in Danger, Causes Health Risks

Washington, DC -  Families of ducks living in the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. are being put in harm’s way due to people feeding the ducks and ducklings.  The Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League is encouraging people frequenting the Capitol Reflecting Pool to stop feeding the ducks, as the ducklings are becoming separated from their mother and are unable to return to water.   The ducks are also being fed a dangerous diet of bread and crackers.

“This is a potentially dangerous situation that could be avoided,” said Lisa LaFontaine, WHS-WARL President and CEO.  “While we understand the public’s fascination with these ducklings, feeding them causes the ducklings to leave the water in an area in which they cannot return to the pool without assistance.  In addition, the public is feeding the ducks bread, which is harmful to their digestive systems.  We call on all members of the public to refrain from feeding waterfowl for both of these important reasons.”

The families of ducks call the Capitol Reflecting Pool home.  With thousands of visitors to the Capitol Reflecting Pool daily, people are tempted to lure the ducklings closer with food, so that they can get a better view of these charming birds.  However as the ducklings move closer to the edge of the pool to find the food, they inadvertently step off of the pool and over the retaining wall.  At that point, they may not find their way back into the pool without assistance. 

Feeding the ducks bread is another dangerous issue.  Ducks that are fed bread can develop health issues, including “Angel Wing,” a condition that causes their wings to twist outward and prevents them from flying.  Ducks that cannot fly cannot escape predators and are often hit by automobiles and other vehicles. 

City Wildlife, an organization based in Washington, DC, works with Architect of the Capitol and, along with WHS-WARL, monitors the ducks and ducklings and returns them to the water each day.

About (WHS-WARL) The Washington Humane Society -Washington Animal Rescue League combined organization cares for more than 60,000 animals annually. The broad range of programs offered include: rescue and adoption, humane law enforcement, low-cost veterinary services, animal care & control, behavior and training, spay-neuter services, humane education, and many others.  Operating four animal-care facilities in Washington, D.C., the organization occupies a significant footprint in the District, and serves as a resource to current pet guardians and prospective adopters across the region.  Together, the organizations offer one, dynamic, industry-leading animal welfare organization in the Nation’s Capital; creating a unified vision for a model urban community for all animals – pets and wildlife alike – and the people who love them.

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Florida Landscaper Runs Tractor Over Duck and Ducklings, as a Family Watched: Arrested and Charged with Nine Counts of Animal Cruelty

Laura Gontchar loved the family of 11 Muscovy ducklings and their mother that lived near her home in Wellington, Fla. After the ducklings hatched, Gontchar and her family would leave food out for them and watch as the ducks ventured out of their lake to eat.

That’s exactly what Gontchar; her husband, Boyd Jentzsch; and their 7-year-old son, Kai, were doing on May 2, they said. That is, until Jason Falbo, a landscaper working his way through the yard on a riding lawnmower, started heading straight for the family of ducklings.

Gontchar told the Palm Beach Post that she ran outside to flag Falbo down as he approached the ducklings. Her son followed her, she said. “He was yelling, ‘Stop, stop! Ducks! Stop!’”

But according to the family, Falbo plowed right into the family of ducklings, then backed up his lawnmower to run them over again. All but two of the ducklings were killed; seven were killed in the lawnmower’s blades and two others drowned as what remained of the family escaped back to the safety of the lake.

On Wednesday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged Falbo with nine counts of animal cruelty, according to the office’s inmate records. He’s being held on a $27,000 bond.

Jentzsch told the Sun Sentinel that Falbo was smiling as he made his second pass over the family of ducks:

“What are you doing to my ducks?” Kai wailed, his father remembers. “Why are you laughing?”

The boy, in tears, ran from the backyard and back into his house. Jentzsch and his wife were stunned.

“It was one of the most emotional things I’ve ever seen,” Jentzsch said. “It was just — wow.”

Falbo was confronted by Gontchar and Jentzsch. He said he was unable to see the ducklings as he mowed their lawn. But the family didn’t believe him. After he left their property, Jentzsch called authorities. Animal Care and Control found their remains by the lake, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Falbo’s boss, Wayne Soini, told the Palm Beach Post that the lawn’s grass was too high for Falbo to see the small ducklings and that he believed the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding. But a police report obtained by the paper notes that the family was farther away from the ducklings than Falbo was and had no problem seeing them in the grass.

Soini also defended his employee in an interview with CBS 12. “He’s not cruel, he would not have done this deliberately,” Soini, who gave only his first name to the CBS affiliate, said. Soini rents a room in his home to Falbo and as employed the landscaper for nine months. Soini added that he believes his employee threw the lawnmower into reverse not out of cruelty but because “there were more in front of him … when he backed up it was to prevent [killing] the ones that were still there.”

Gontchar told the Palm Beach paper that since that awful day, the mother duck and her two remaining children have returned to the site multiple times. “She came back and was clucking, calling for her ducklings. But they weren’t there.”

The couple is struggling to explain to Kai what it is that he witnessed, Jentzsch told the Sun Sentinel. “He asked me,” Jentzch said, “‘Is everybody out there like this?'”

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Meet Donald, a Duckling Born with 4 Legs

Sulphur, LA - Hatching animals is nothing new to one Sulphur, Louisiana, family, but they were surprised when one of their young ducklings was a little different.

The duckling has not two but four legs.

Claude Aucoin told KPLC that he has hatched more than 1,000 ducks in his lifetime, but he was shocked with this surprise.

The duckling grew a fan base when Aucoin's daughter, Kylie, quickly exposed the duck, who goes by Donald, on social media.

This little duck has shocked everyone who has encountered him, and when the family is asked how this happened, they said it must have been a birth defect.

Luckily, the duck is in no harm and gets around fine even with his extra legs.


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