The Cyberactivist

I was going to write about something else
this morning, but we just read an article
that really chaps my ass.

It is in the The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida,
and is called, "Trapper's Arrows Set Off Duck
Row."

It seems that some residents in this
retirement community had complained
to their homeowner's association about
these ducks leaving "smelly droppings"
around their places. So, the member of
the association in charge of handling the
situation hired a trapper to get rid of the
ducks. The problem is with the method
he chose to use to accomplish this.

Picture this: You live in this nice little
quiet community, enjoying your golden
years, feeding the ducks that live at the
nearby pond. You go outside one day
and see this guy, "darting between the
houses, shooting at the ducks with as
many as three to four arrows."

This is what one of the people said she
saw. Can you imagine how horrible this
would be?

To make it worse, according to the trapper,

Lakeland police officers had to stand by him
while he shot the waterfowl because residents
were cussing at him and threatening to hurt him.

Well, can you blame them? This is horrible!
I don't care what the excuse is, I wouldn't
let it go on in my back yard, either. I mean,
the guy is running around between houses,
letting arrows fly at these poor ducks, who
are no doubt running away from this maniac
as fast as their little feet could carry them.
This should be illegal. But, catch the rest
of this.

This guy defended his actions with these
extremely lame statements that show
how clueless he really is to how cruel and
barbaric his actions were:

"The problem wasn't the trap, it was the
people" feeding the ducks away from the
trap, he said.

In addition, when he couldn't catch some
of them, he left a crate so that residents
could catch the ducks themselves.

But that didn't work either, so he had no
choice but to shoot them with a bow and
arrow, he said.

Not enough for you? How about this other
justification for the dirty deed:

The man said he gave the ducks to needy
families who cannot afford to buy meat.

He insisted, "The ducks were legally disposed of."

Oh, well that changes everything. It just
makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He
did it for those poor people needing food.
He was right about one thing, though. This
was apparently legal for him to do.

Gary Morse, a spokesman with the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,
said Muscovy ducks are not considered wildlife
and are not protected birds.

"These particular types of birds are domestic . . .
and are not regulated by the Fish and Wildlife
Commission," Morse said, adding that it is up
to local governments to regulate the trapping
of the waterfowl.

Isn't that convenient? Not their responsibility.

Apparently it is not Animal Services Director
Eddy DeCastro's either. According to him:

...the county has no regulations on trapping
ducks either.

"The county has only regulations pertaining to
dogs, cats and hybrid canines, such as hybrid
wolves or hybrid dogs," DeCastro said.

What's amazing to me is not just that there is
no law against doing something like this, but
that there would need to be. I mean, how many
of us would actually conceive of the idea of
running around shooting ducks with a bow
and arrow as being the best solution to a
problem, especially in a residential area. I mean,
if it took this guy 3 or 4 arrows in some cases
to kill these ducks, he is obviously not a very
good shot. How many arrows missed, flying
through the air where they could have hit a
person or someone's dog or something? One
of the complaints of the residents was that
they were not told this trapper was coming.

The other thing about this is that it would have
been infinitely easier to do this in a humane
manner. Anyone who has dealt with any kind
of fowl knows that at night, these birds will
go to roost. Ducks roost, either on the
ground, or in very shallow water. All you need
is a long-handled dip net and a flashlight
with a blue lens. Then all you have to do is
just walk up and scoop up the bird nicely and
put it in a cage for transport to a more suitable
location. I have helped catch ducks this way
before, so I know it works. It would have been,
not only more humane, but much easier.

Some people just don't stop to think about
what they are doing. This was a perfect
example of idiocy. This guy can't have been
much of a knowledgeable trapper. He had
no idea what he was doing. But, what is
even worse is that his mind would jump
to this solution so quickly. It never would
have occurred to me to do something like
that. He just misses the point of it being
cruel by pointing out that it was legal and
that the meat went to needy people, so it
wasn't wasted and therefore not wrong.

Can you imagine seeing a duck squawking
in pain with 3 or 4 arrows sticking out of it?
And cops are protecting this man so he can
do it! That's the part that really gets me.
Why didn't someone call an animal organization
to do this? I'm sure they would have caught
them and put them somewhere, probably
for free.

I blame the guy that hired the trapper just as
much for hiring this guy to do this. His hands
are just as bloody.