Jupiter neighborhood opts to treat 'nuisance' Muscovy ducks humanely

JUPITER — Catherine the Great is a good duck, according Danielle Ohanesian.

The female Muscovy duck is blind and would be pecked at by other ducks, so she has taken shelter in Ohanesian's yard at the Jupiter Plantation condo complex.

"You get to know them after a while," Ohanesian said. "You get attached to them."

Other residents don't share her views about the fowls.

"These ducks are messy," Russ McBride, president of the HOA, told The Palm Beach Post. "They are a nuisance."

A few residents like Ohanesian were horrified when the community association manager considered hiring someone to "shoot the critters with an air rifle," according to minutes from a January board meeting.

Like many South Floridians are well aware, Muscovy ducks are everywhere. They waddle through fast food parking lots and congregate around community ponds. Their plumage consists of a black-and-white mix and they have distinct red wattles by their beaks.

Muscovy ducks are native to Mexico, Central and South America, but can be found in Florida, Louisiana and southern Canada.

Getting rid of them isn't as easy as trapping and relocating them because it's against federal law — the birds are capable of spreading disease and mating with native birds. But a control order with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows anyone to "remove or destroy Muscovy ducks ... or their nests, or eggs at any time when found." There are provisions in this order such as making sure non-toxic bullets are used or ensuring that removing Muscovy ducks doesn't harm migratory birds or those protected by the Endangered Species Act.

A plan to remove the ducks in a Palm Springs neighborhood in December sparked outrage after animal removal crews carrying guns and orange buckets killed a number of the birds. Residents said they found "blood everywhere" on the streets.

Yet the USFWS order isn't a carte blanche license to kill: in 2015, an Acreage man who intentionally ran over nine Muscovy ducklings with a lawnmower in Wellington pleaded guilty to animal-cruelty charges. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises that if eradication is the option, the birds should be "humanely euthanized."

Ohanesian and other residents want to take a non-violent approach to curb the population, and so far board leaders have agreed.

The easiest thing any resident or visitor can do is to not feed the birds. McBride said he would work to notify residents and put up signs around the complex.

But Ohanesian learned of another method of slowly decreasing the population: by shaking the eggs. An FWC spokeswoman said this is one method they suggest.

Shaking eggs ensures they won't hatch. Ohanesian said after shaking them, she collects almost all of the eggs, leaving two or three in the nest so the mother doesn't realize the nest has been tampered with.

"We hope to control the population that way through attrition," McBride said.

McBride added that informal surveys at board meetings showed that most people still are in favor of eradicating the ducks. But the neighborhood will take humane measures for now, possibly revisiting the issue in a year to see if the population has decreased.

"If we got overrun by them, of course we'd have to do something," McBride said.

hmorse@pbpost.com

@mannahhorse