Feeding Ducks
So recently, I made a small comment on a friend's journal about how it's bad to feed ducks. Unfortunately, I seem to have upset some people, which happens quite often. I think perhaps I did not articulate myself enough...so here is why you should not feed ducks.
Ducks beg for our attention and our food, which makes them hard to resist. It's great fun watching them gorge themselves on our leftovers, but the fact is, feeding ducks anything destroys their health and creates serious health risks to humans. Once they get a taste for junk food they stop eating the healthy natural foods in their environment.
The colorful Mallards and other wild ducks you see on many lakes and ponds have bodies that allow them to fly. They are physically designed to eat natural foods growing in their environment to stay healthy and light for flight. Sometimes a specially formulated duck food is provided to them, but only under strict supervision of park officials, when wild ducks are in a man-made setting or natural foods are not available. When wild ducks are fed human foods their organs become engorged and fatty on the inside and they quickly die from malnutrition, heart disease, liver problems and other health complications. An overfed, malnutritioned duck is sluggish and can't escape from predators. Feeding wild ducks adversely affects natural migration patterns, which are critical for their ongoing survival.
From another source:
Ducks and geese normally eat seeds, roots, shoots of sedge, grass and aquatic plants such as millefoil and algae. Their digestive tracts aren't able to handle bread well. When the birds eat dry bread, it swells into an indigestible doughy mass in the stomach that can cause blockage and prevents the bird from absorbing nutrients. Sometimes the bread actually gets stuck in their throat making it impossible for them to swallow.
When ducks and geese (in fact, any bird) are given bread, large numbers of them repeatedly gather in the same place. The unnatural concentration of food and feces (poop) enables disease and illness to spread through large bird populations quickly. Also, bread that is left on the ground can pollute water and cause bacteria to grow possibly causing infections in these birds.
And another source:
Many health hazards can result from feeding migratory and domestic waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans, and many municipalities have bans in place. The goal of this type of legislation is to prevent accumulation of droppings that may result in damage to flora, fauna and property, harm water quality, increase potential to spread disease or create a nuisance. Another goal is to protect the welfare of the birds themselves, as wildlife studies have shown that feeding waterfowl and migratory birds can interrupt their normal migration patterns, cause nutritional problems, and promote the spread of bird diseases. Regulations prohibit feeding waterfowl, as well as creating a condition which results in a congregation or congestion of waterfowl. Some legislation grants enforcement agencies the authority to disperse flocks by scare tactics or noise tactics.
So there. I'm not being selfish, fuck all of you for thinking that...as tasha said I'm "bad for the environment. You with you car and your lattes in the morning, and your stupid big ass house that's probably sitting where a rabbit's den was." It's bad for the DUCKS. You know, how you're supposed to cut holes in the plastic rings on coke, and crush cans so animals don't get stuck in it? You know how you should properly dispose of needles, rubber gloves, and popped balloons so that they don't hurt animals? It's the same fucking thing. Human food is harmful to ducks. We fill our bodies with all these preservatives and chemicals, why do we need to give all that to the animals too?
Ducks beg for our attention and our food, which makes them hard to resist. It's great fun watching them gorge themselves on our leftovers, but the fact is, feeding ducks anything destroys their health and creates serious health risks to humans. Once they get a taste for junk food they stop eating the healthy natural foods in their environment.
The colorful Mallards and other wild ducks you see on many lakes and ponds have bodies that allow them to fly. They are physically designed to eat natural foods growing in their environment to stay healthy and light for flight. Sometimes a specially formulated duck food is provided to them, but only under strict supervision of park officials, when wild ducks are in a man-made setting or natural foods are not available. When wild ducks are fed human foods their organs become engorged and fatty on the inside and they quickly die from malnutrition, heart disease, liver problems and other health complications. An overfed, malnutritioned duck is sluggish and can't escape from predators. Feeding wild ducks adversely affects natural migration patterns, which are critical for their ongoing survival.
From another source:
Ducks and geese normally eat seeds, roots, shoots of sedge, grass and aquatic plants such as millefoil and algae. Their digestive tracts aren't able to handle bread well. When the birds eat dry bread, it swells into an indigestible doughy mass in the stomach that can cause blockage and prevents the bird from absorbing nutrients. Sometimes the bread actually gets stuck in their throat making it impossible for them to swallow.
When ducks and geese (in fact, any bird) are given bread, large numbers of them repeatedly gather in the same place. The unnatural concentration of food and feces (poop) enables disease and illness to spread through large bird populations quickly. Also, bread that is left on the ground can pollute water and cause bacteria to grow possibly causing infections in these birds.
And another source:
Many health hazards can result from feeding migratory and domestic waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans, and many municipalities have bans in place. The goal of this type of legislation is to prevent accumulation of droppings that may result in damage to flora, fauna and property, harm water quality, increase potential to spread disease or create a nuisance. Another goal is to protect the welfare of the birds themselves, as wildlife studies have shown that feeding waterfowl and migratory birds can interrupt their normal migration patterns, cause nutritional problems, and promote the spread of bird diseases. Regulations prohibit feeding waterfowl, as well as creating a condition which results in a congregation or congestion of waterfowl. Some legislation grants enforcement agencies the authority to disperse flocks by scare tactics or noise tactics.
So there. I'm not being selfish, fuck all of you for thinking that...as tasha said I'm "bad for the environment. You with you car and your lattes in the morning, and your stupid big ass house that's probably sitting where a rabbit's den was." It's bad for the DUCKS. You know, how you're supposed to cut holes in the plastic rings on coke, and crush cans so animals don't get stuck in it? You know how you should properly dispose of needles, rubber gloves, and popped balloons so that they don't hurt animals? It's the same fucking thing. Human food is harmful to ducks. We fill our bodies with all these preservatives and chemicals, why do we need to give all that to the animals too?