Urban Park Rangers rescue illegally dumped
domestic ducks from Bowne Park pond
A handful of domestic ducks were rescued from Bowne Park in Flushing on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 18-DEC. 24, 2020 17
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
Do not dump domestic
ducks in New York City parks
— or any other animals for
that matter. This was the message
NYC Urban Park Rangers
and activists of the rescue organization
“They All Want to
Live” had for New York City
residents in Flushing on Friday,
Dec. 11.
The rangers and activists
came to the rescue of 11 domestic
ducks that were illegally
dumped in a pond in Flushing’s
Bowne Park sometime
in the middle of November.
Edita Birnkrant, the executive
director of NYCLASS, and
Mary Beth Artz, a New York
state wildlife rehabilitator,
suspect that a street vendor
who tried to sell ducks outside
Maple playground in Flushing
dumped the group of waterfowl
in the pond.
With locals looking on and
under the watchful eye of the
wild geese that call the pond
home, the rescue operation
was a surprisingly quick affair.
The team comprised of
park rangers in canoes and
volunteers — some of them
wearing water waders braving
the cold pond water — corralled
the ducks to safe shores.
Once the ducks were steered
to a pen that was set up on the
edge of the pond, they were
captured with nets and put in
pet carriers.
Unlike wild geese and
ducks, domesticated ducks
cannot survive in the wild.
Unable to fly because of their
large bodies and small wings,
the Bowne Park ducks were
in danger of succumbing to
either the elements, predators
or starving to death once the
mercury dips below 32 degrees
and the pond freezes over.
Artz, who has been rescuing
ducks for years, has
noticed an increase in illegal
duck dumping in the past
eight months and thinks the
COVID-19 pandemic might be
the cause.
“We have been doing duck
rescue nonstop for the last eight
months since the pandemic
started,” Artz said. “We have
been doing it for many years,
but this year particular, because
people have been home,
you can buy ducklings online.
They ship them through the
mail, and people pick them up
at the post office. Once the novelty
of the ducklings, the fuzzy,
cute stage wears off, they are
incredibly hard to take care of
in an apartment or home.”
“I don’t think it’s malicious,”
Artz continued. “They
don’t realize that the ducks
are domestic and can’t survive
in the wild like the mallard.
So, they think that it’s a good
thing that they are doing by
dumping them to be free in a
pond. It’s a death sentence.”
Bonny McGuire, director
at NYC Urban Park Rangers,
agreed.
“It definitely happened prepandemic,
but we have seen
a slight uptick since the pandemic
happened,” McGuire
said.
McGuire took the opportunity
to reminded New Yorkers
that domestic animals do not
belong in public parks.
“If you have a pet of any
kind, a snake, a dog, a cat, a
turtle, a duck, don’t take them
to the park. It’s not a place for
them,” she said. “It won’t be
good for them or the environment.”
The rescued ducks were
taken to Goose Pond Mountain,
an animal sanctuary in
Goshen, New York, where they
will be as “happy as a duck in
New York” living in a predator
proof enclosure with kiddie
pools in the summer.
/QNS.COM
