Don”t feed the ducks in Library Park in Lakeport. That”s the message coming out of the Lakeport City Council. Last week, members of the city council took up the problem of too many ducks in the park, which are not only spreading their droppings throughout the park but could also spread diseases.
Feeding the ducks will be an infraction which means the offenders could face a fine, much like a traffic fine. Recently there was a die-off of ducks in park caused by avian botulism. This is normally caused by a sick duck dying and other ducks pecking at the carcass. The disease can rapidly spread throughout healthy ducks. There is also the fear of the avian flu, called H5N1, which can be deadly to humans.
The duck population in the park has increased dramatically during the past three years. I took a count of the ducks in the park last month and the the first day I counted 325 ducks. Two days later I made another count and it was 275. This was the area between the Fifth Street ramp and TNT Restaurant and didn”t include Willow Point, where there were at least 50 more ducks. In fact, TNT Restaurant has posted signs discouraging their customers from feeding the ducks.
The duck population in the park will continue to increase as more birds migrate to the lake this fall. This is one of the reasons the Lakeport City Council took steps to ban the feeding of the ducks.
According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) biologist Allan Buckmann, feeding ducks, and all other wildlife, does more harm than good.
“Wildlife has to learn the fend for themselves and when we feed them they will soon forget their natural instinct to forage for food. In the end they will die a tragic death of starvation or from a disease. In other words they won”t be healthy,” says Buckmann.
“When there are conflicts between humans and wild animals, the animals lose,” said Buckmann. “The message is don”t feed wild animals. They don”t need our handouts, they need our respect. We all need to take responsibility for the wild animals whose habitat we share. When humans are careless, wild animals may pay the price.”
According to the DFG, animals that become accustomed to being fed will expand their activities to find more feed. Such behavior by well-meaning people puts the animals at unnecessary risk and often disrupts the natural survival instincts of the animal.
When people feed wildlife, the wildlife becomes habituated to that source of food and that can lead to animals that are unnaturally bold or develop aggressive behavior. That type of aggressive behavior results in conflicts between wildlife and humans and that most often leads to the death of the animal.
A DFG spokesman said the most common problems stem from leaving pet food out at night, directly feeding wildlife by putting out food, or by allowing access to crops.
The DFG urges pet owners to feed pets early in the day and to retrieve dishes at night. In addition, if a pet door is used, owners should exercise caution that wildlife, particularly raccoons and skunks, don”t enter the house in search of an easy meal. There are lockable pet doors that have manual locks or open by a magnetic collar placed on pets.
According to the DFG, people who feed wildlife are at greater risk of an attack when animals grow accustomed to being fed and have that feeding disturbed in some way. They are also at a greater risk for the spread of disease and parasites. Urban areas often have an invasion of turkeys, skunks, opossums and raccoons coming to get food, with predators such as coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions following their prey down into housing areas. These animals can cause problems for pets and unsuspecting neighbors who may not want the visitors in their yard. It is illegal to feed big game, such as deer and bears, for these reasons.
A number of residents around the county actually consider deer as pets and feed them. This is illegal and you can be cited by game wardens. These semi-tame deer can become aggressive if not fed. The bucks can get very aggressive during the breeding season. The does also are protective of their fawns during the spring. Last year, a doe came into the backyard of a Southern California resident and stomped a 3-year-old boy to death with its hooves.
