birding-aus

Duck deaths in Melbourne

To: "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: Duck deaths in Melbourne
From: "michael norris" <>
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:00:20 +1100
The Age reported (20/1) on at least 18 ducks dying at Hedgeley Dene, part of the Glen Iris wetlands in the City of Stonnington. As the paper said "...It might be a perfect place to spend an afternoon feeding the ducks..."

They included a picture of a Mallard, not a species you would expect in a place designed inspired by "a strong belief that open space along the Gardiners Creek Valley should serve an ecological and educational role, rather than being purely recreational and ornamental".

This week (28/1) they said the cause was botulism. Not suprising: one of our members warned this could happen if people continued to feed bread to ducks in our parks. A soggy lump of bread is a great culture medium for the bacterium.

Some people can't stop themselves, despite signs about obesity, pollution....., from feeding ducks. So please tell them this story to underline that they should give as little bread as possible.

Michael Norris
Bayside Friends of Native Wildlife

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