Winter Park is looking to evict a both beloved and bemoaned waddling and invasive resident of its lakes.
It’s the Muscovy duck, which has lived in lakes and ponds across Florida for generations. The fast-multiplying birds with red skin around their beaks and eyes are native to Central and South America, and city officials say they compete with native wildlife, could pass along disease to native birds or contribute to poor water quality.
In Winter Park, Gloria Eby, the director of natural resources and sustainability, said a proposal floated Wednesday is the result of complaints over time as well as an effort to protect the city’s water bodies.
“Without preventive measures, some of our smaller lakes and ponds will be impacted as their droppings are not only large and a constant pollution source, they are high in fecal bacteria and high in nitrogen levels,” she said in an email.
The program to remove the ducks includes several strategies, she told commissioners Wednesday ahead of a unanimous vote in favor. Already, the city distributed flyers to homes around lakes Knowles and Wilbar. They also put up signs urging residents there not to feed the ducks, though some were subsequently removed by neighbors, she said.
Eby said Winter Park would use a licensed and experienced trapper to relocate the ducks humanely. Complaints about Muscovy ducks being bad for traffic, or charging at children and pets have come in from people near lakes Forrest, Knowles, Wilbar, Killarney and Island, and from some golf-course neighborhoods, she said.
“The priority would be to relocate to a facility that maintains conditions that prevent escape into the wild,” she said.
It would be illegal for residents to shoot at ducks, as it would violate a local ordinance, she said.
Such programs are controversial, officials say, pitting lovers of the ducks against those who’d like them to move on.
(Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
“I think all invasive species of plant and animal are a tough discussion; it’s a tough decision,” Mayor Phil Anderson said.
The lone member of the public who spoke Wednesday opposed removal.
“This is an example of bad city government: destroying wildlife,” said David Williams, a homeowner. “There are ways, rather than destroying the animals. You can bring the birds to my neighborhood; I’ll take care of them.”
Despite Muscovy ducks’ long history in Florida, Charles Lee, the director of advocacy at the Audubon Society of Florida’s Central Florida office, said the birds aren’t considered wildlife and are likely descendants of pets released on waterways.
“In these settings of lakefront communities, you typically have people line up on two sides: people who love the ducks and feed the ducks and people who hate the ducks,” he said.
Conflicts between humans and Muscovy ducks are common, said James Wildman, a humane educator with the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and typically involve complaints about their feces. He said trapping and moving aren’t cost-effective, or likely to curb the population.
Instead, he said, his organization works with neighborhoods, colleges and other organizations to remove muscovy eggs from nests to limit the population.
“The populations always rebound,” he said of trapping. “This is inhumane; this is cruel. The best way to deal with a situation like this is egg collecting.”
Elected officials in Winter Park could move to evict the awkward, hissing, beloved and begroaned Muscovy Duck from lakes across the city just north of Orlando. They’re expected to vote Wednesday on instituting a “removal program” of the invasive duck known for bumpy red skin around its beak and eyes. Muscovies compete with native waterfowl and can harm water quality, according to city officials.
(High-dynamic-range image by Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
In nearby Maitland, the city hired a trapper in hopes of relocating birds from Lake Lily Park, according to a March 2021 report by WESH-Channel 2. On Wednesday afternoon, more than two dozen of the birds were seen swimming at the park or resting alongside native mallards and other fowl on the shore. Maitland doesn’t regularly trap the birds, a spokesperson said.
Muscovy populations can rapidly expand, and they lay between 10 and 30 eggs at a time, Wildman said.
“Lake Knowles used to be a swimming lake … and it’s no longer such a lake and it’s so polluted, and this is the No. 1 reason why that lake is polluted,” said Todd Weaver, a city commissioner. “We want them to feed native ducks. These aren’t native.”
rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com
