Botulism suspected in deaths of ducks in Coconut Creek

I sincerely doubt every piece of "information" in this article. If the Wildlife Care Center didn't do a culture and is only of the opinion this is botulism, don't fall for it. The much more likely answer is someone living close to the problem poisoned these ducks. This makes a lot more sense considering how many tons of rotting bread it would take to make a canal toxic, especially since ducks being fed eat everything in sight including poisoned bread. Another likely suspect is the town or county treated the canal for algae and mosquitos which often results in a "mystery" fish kill as well. It is better not to feed ducks as they will return to places they found food every day for thirty days or more. If you continue to feed they will hang around and give up looking for food on their own, they will then kill your grass with their outflow. If you must feed ducks only to supplement the lack of quality wild food because lawns are a desert to a duck, go to a water location and feed them in the water only. The proper food to use is fresh dry cat food with a corn meal base ( round or oval not star or X shaped. Do not overfeed, it polutes the water.

aflac!

People are always feeding stray dogs, cats, and other animals. This practice needs to stop. Does disease from these animals have to start killing humans before they stop?

I would not want to live next to this duck lady. Had a neighbor years ago that fed the ones in my area. They hung out on my lanw, leaving fun "presents" everywhere. I go to get the mail, and the swarm would all come waddling up to me, nipping at my feet. And ony one who says ducks can't hurt you, I assure you are wrong. Their beaks can break the skin!

People, these animals can become aggressive. Stop feeding them!

Oops. Typos: lawn, any

Hey, the economy is bad, the ducks need to eat too!

I've spoken with the lady from Duck Haven and she really cares about ducks. I wouldn't trust the Wildlife Care Center and doubt this latest case is botulism. They told me that years ago too when we lost a bunch of ducks. They foamed at the mouth, had convulsions and died. The police even believed it was poison, confiscated the dead ducks and the Wildlife Care Center STILL wouldn't do anything. They said they didn't have the resources.

MyPerspective wrote:

I would not want to live next to this duck lady. Had a neighbor years ago that fed the ones in my area. They hung out on my lanw, leaving fun "presents" everywhere. I go to get the mail, and the swarm would all come waddling up to me, nipping at my feet. And ony one who says ducks can't hurt you, I assure you are wrong. Their beaks can break the skin!
People, these animals can become aggressive. Stop feeding them!

wow

While I don't agree with feeding ducks on a community body of water because every has to suffer the consequences, ducks get botulism from eating the maggots off of carcasses.

they don't get it from the water

it's not the bread it's decaying flesh on carcasses flys love it and so do maggots and ducks will eat worms

pick up any dead carcasses of any kind on your property and your ducks won't get sick from botulism

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/...

If you want people to stop feeding the ducks tell them to stop feeding the ducks and put it in your rules.

Don't put wrong info in a news articles. That only causes more ducks to die because the writer left people ignorant of key facts.

MyPerspective wrote:

I would not want to live next to this duck lady. Had a neighbor years ago that fed the ones in my area. They hung out on my lanw, leaving fun "presents" everywhere. I go to get the mail, and the swarm would all come waddling up to me, nipping at my feet. And ony one who says ducks can't hurt you, I assure you are wrong. Their beaks can break the skin!
People, these animals can become aggressive. Stop feeding them!

I had a very similar situation. To rectify the problem, I pooped on the ground, allowed my poop to harden overnight, then cut my poop into small pieces and fed it to the ducks.
All it took was one feeding and I never saw them again.

Excuse me wrote:

While I don't agree with feeding ducks on a community body of water because every has to suffer the consequences, ducks get botulism from eating the maggots off of carcasses.
they don't get it from the water
it's not the bread it's decaying flesh on carcasses flys love it and so do maggots and ducks will eat worms
pick up any dead carcasses of any kind on your property and your ducks won't get sick from botulism
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/...
If you want people to stop feeding the ducks tell them to stop feeding the ducks and put it in your rules.
Don't put wrong info in a news articles. That only causes more ducks to die because the writer left people ignorant of key facts.

Agreed. This link also provides factual information to further support your claim.
http://www.depend.com/products/products_all.a...

From my experience with this center they have been responsive and very nice. I have had two incidences where we ran across a squirrel that had puncture wounds and was laying in shock, and a bird with what appeared to be a broken wing. We dropped the animals off and the center said they would do what they could. We called later on each and the receptionist said they were getting along well. All I know is that I was grateful that we had a place to go to when coming across these creatures no other place would take.

Bread in the water. That's a good one.
I agree with some of the other posters, some one did something to the ducks.

It's the same thing with bums. If you feed them they keep coming back, bring more friends with them, and poop and pee all over.

duane wrote:

<quoted text>
I had a very similar situation. To rectify the problem, I pooped on the ground, allowed my poop to harden overnight, then cut my poop into small pieces and fed it to the ducks.
All it took was one feeding and I never saw them again.

Eew. Luckily, the neighbor moved and so did the duck problem.

these ducks are useless and need to be done away with, just like all the old farts in south florida. this was a good start

Listen, i found some old Bread in my music collection and the Ducks wouldn't touch it. So don't blam it on Bread.

Alatta Huey wrote:

Bread in the water. That's a good one.
I agree with some of the other posters, some one did something to the ducks.

I agree also. That's the standard policy rant from the wildlife people "don't feed the animals", "don't feed the ducks" etc. While I do agree with this sentiment, it shouldn't excuse someone to poison animals, nor should it exclude the police or wildlife experts from properly investigating.

Someone who will poison the ducks is just as likely to poison your dog because it barks too much - OR - what if your dog got ahold of the duck carcass and got sick from the poisoning?

Don't forget it is these same wildlife "experts" that want us to humanely dispose of iguanas by putting them in our freezer. Yeah, 4 foot iguanas in my freezer, but you won't bother to look for the person inhumanely killing the ducks.

oh please wrote:

I've spoken with the lady from Duck Haven and she really cares about ducks. I wouldn't trust the Wildlife Care Center and doubt this latest case is botulism. They told me that years ago too when we lost a bunch of ducks. They foamed at the mouth, had convulsions and died. The police even believed it was poison, confiscated the dead ducks and the Wildlife Care Center STILL wouldn't do anything. They said they didn't have the resources.

What police department are you talking about?

quack,quack