Three ducks who have been on quite an adventure. Photo via Wild Bird Fund.
There’s a tendency among people who save animals or grow tired of them to drop them off in Central Park, like it’s an afterschool program for wayward wildlife. But many animals don’t belong there, and have to be rescued once again.
Case in point: a man apparently bought some ducks from a slaughterhouse earlier this month, assuming he could release them into Central Park and it would be just fine. “I was sitting on a rock with [friends and photographers] when a man wheeled the ducks up in three crates & dropped the ducks into the pond. He said he paid $25 each to free them from a Brooklyn slaughterhouse,” wrote one @Lathropa on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/BirdCentralPark/status/1159640252824379393
But these were Muscovy ducks, which apparently are not wild, and they were unlikely to survive in Central Park, according to the Wild Bird Fund.
So the Parks Department had to send workers out to catch them, which was an adventure, but…wasn’t so easy.
Hooray! Two down, one to go. Rangers Rob Mastrianni and Dan Tainow responded to our call for help after these Muscovies were dumped in @CentralParkNYC Pond yesterday. Huge thanks to our hard-working Urban Rangers and to @AndrewReiter for sounding the alarm. https://t.co/jgFFOQoiFG pic.twitter.com/vgvMSXmX9X
— Wild Bird Fund (@wildbirdfund) August 9, 2019
The continuing adventures of NYC's duck-rescuing rangers…
Rob Mastrianni, Dan Tainow and Jill Lim of @NYCParks set out from the shores of @CentralParkNYC Pond in search of Muscovy #3. Success! pic.twitter.com/8HOV3QMPcG
— Wild Bird Fund (@wildbirdfund) August 10, 2019
The Wild Bird Fund said they would rehabilitate the animals and find them new homes.
which reminds me…is that multi-colored duck that was the flavor of the week a couple of months ago still around?
You mean that stunning mandarin duck? Yeah – what happened to him. I heard he was also hanging in the Hudson and in some ponds in New Jersey. Where’d he this winter? And is he still here?
Animals destined for the slaughterhouse were born solely for the purpose of being killed and eaten. It’s not as if they were plucked from their happy, natural lives. The idea of “saving” an animal is silly when millions more are being killed. It’s much smarter to make sure they have a decent life and a humane death by buying Certified Humane meat when it is available, and free-range when it is not. That will have a greater impact on the world than saving a few animals and then leaving them to fend for themselves.
The “greater impact on the world” would come from the cessation of raising animals for the sole purpose of being eaten. Humans would be healthier, and so would the environment. And, since there is no such thing as decent life for animals bred to die, they, of course, would benefit too.
Well said Iris.
Please. There is no such thing as “humane meat”. No one wants to get slaughtered.
My point is that the animals would never have been born in the first place except for the fact that they will be eaten. You don’t have to like it, but it’s a fact. Saving a couple of them does nothing. Using your economic power to only support humane farming is a much better way to reduce suffering.
Actually a better way is to not eat meat. You don’t need it, it’s terrible for the world and it’s usually done in an inhumane way. Don’t kid yourself. If you eat meat you contribute to the inhumane suffering of animals.
Agree with Kat French.
They apparently can survive, but are considered an invasive species, at least according to Wikipedia.
Domestic ducks simply don’t do well in the wild. It’s like dumping a pet into Central Park.