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Fowl roundup is a sleeper
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- On the excitement scale, last week's duck roundup in Freedom Lake Park was no competition for The Crocodile Hunter. City officials invited the media to watch Charles Carpenter trap 39 Muscovies to demonstrate his safe methods and defuse any possible repeat of last year's tensions. In November, Carpenter had to call police three times to chase off animal activists who, he said, had stashed limp, drugged ducks behind bushes for prevent their removal. The duck lovers denied the charges but subsequently wrote to the city, alleging that Carpenter and his crew removed mallards, shoved baby ducks in their pockets, and took mother ducks and left their babies behind. Wednesday night mostly passed without incident as Carpenter, who was being paid $25 per duck, and six assistants tried to coax the Muscovies to eat drugged bread. Carpenter declined to name the sedative, saying it is available to the public and he doesn't want people to abuse it. But the ducks, who probably receive handouts during the day, initially ignored the bread (for the record, Publix white). In such cases, one of Carpenter's assistants would remove the bread to prevent another animal from eating it. When a duck took the bait, the desired effect took from 15 minutes to two hours, Carpenter said. They "start waving their heads back and forth." The duck sits down as if it's going to sleep. The trapper puts the duck in a pet carrier and then in an air-conditioned vehicle for transport to a farm in Plant City. The females are there to lay eggs, Carpenter said. The males are used for breeding. While waiting for the ducks to eat the bread, Carpenter joked that he has heard all the puns, such as: When you pick up comatose ducks, do you tie them with "duck" tape? He also talked about Steve Irwin, the Australian star of the television show The Crocodile Hunter on the Animal Planet network. Carpenter dresses in khakis as Irwin does, but the resemblance ends there. "He is careless for the sake of sensationalism," Carpenter said. Safety is of prime importance when capturing wild animals, he said. Carpenter, 43, opened Animal Capture of Florida about eight years ago to fill a need. He's captured peacocks, lemurs and snakes. He'll remove anything except alligators and crocodiles. He has plenty of experience with ducks. Apartment complexes that want Muscovies out of their swimming pools are frequent customers. The evening's first bit of news came from a woman who had been fishing and asked Carpenter whether he was putting out drugged bait. She wondered whether that's why a starling was staggering. Carpenter put the bird in a carrier, where he said it would stay until it revived. "We come into these places and, before we even get started, there'll be birds down," he said. But he conceded that the starling might have gotten some of the drug. "We're very careful, but sometimes there's nothing you can do." Then one of Carpenter's helpers called on the radio and said someone was throwing food to the ducks and other creatures over the fence. Carpenter wanted to know whether it was the same person who had given them trouble the last time. The answer was "yes." Allen Bradford, who feeds the ducks, storks, pigeons, cats and other creatures, had come to deliver the animals' nightly meal. He circled the park, stopping once to put out food. Carpenter put out traffic cones to prevent Bradford from driving all the way into the park. Bradford parked near the entrance, sat in his car and smoked a cigar. "I didn't realize they'd be here this long," Bradford said. He was upset that the ducks were being removed and complained that Carpenter, who's being paid with taxpayers' dollars, refused to tell him how many ducks were being taken. "They get 39 out of here, there aren't going to be any left," he said. "I want them to leave them. Leave them alone. Those ducks won't hurt them." Carpenter and the city say the ducks create a health hazard with the feces they leave on picnic tables, benches and elsewhere in the park. Constant cleaning also costs taxpayers, they say. The Muscovies, a domesticated species, also breed with and drive out the native Florida ducks. If the Muscovies were completely removed from Freedom Lake Park, Carpenter said, the native ducks and other birds would return within six months. "Muscovies are just horrific on the ecosystem," Carpenter said. "It seems to me, if people were informed, they'd be glad to see the ducks go." Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata)-- Native to Mexico and Central and South America. -- Domesticated and widely distributed in tropical and semitropical climates. -- The species name of moschata is Latin for "having a musky odor." -- Are considered "Perching Ducks," which have sharp claws and broad tails that help in landing on and perching in trees. In the wild, they nest in hollow tree trunks and lay between 10 and 12 eggs. Domesticated Muscovies nest on the ground and have smaller clutches. Eggs incubate for 35 days. -- Although their coloring varies widely, all male Muscovies have bright red bumpy patches at the base of the beak. These prominent wart-like red growths about the beak and eyes are larger in domesticated Muscovies than in their wild cousins. -- Muscovies will eat vegetation, insects, fish and small reptiles.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
