FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
HELP! I'VE FOUND A DUCKLING. WHAT DO I DO?
Determine if the duckling was dumped or if it is a wild duckling. If it is a wild duckling, try to find it's mom. The mom will most likely have other ducklings the same size. If you cannot locate it's family and you are in the St. Louis area, contact Wildlife Rescue Center in Ballwin. Most other wildlife rescues in the area are not licensed to handle waterfowl. If it is a dumped domestic duckling, please feel free to contact us.
WHY CAN'T DOMESTIC DUCKS SURVIVE AT PARKS?
domestic ducks were selectively bred by humans to either get very fat very quickly or to lay an unnatural amount of eggs. There are dozens of reasons why they can't survive on their own. They cannot fly like wild ducks can. This means they can't fly away from predators or fly south once it gets too cold so they don't freeze to death. They do not know how to find their own food since their instincts were bred out of them and because they got used to just waiting for their owner to fill their food bowl, so they can starve to death pretty quickly, especially since most people who feed ducks at parks feed them unhealthy items such as bread. Almost all breeds of domestic ducks do not camouflage into their surroundings like wild ducks do (such as the pekin duck). This makes it easy for predators to spot them. Domestic ducks have lost most of their instincts through selective breeding so they aren't great at spotting possible predators. They will walk right up to humans that mean them harm and don't have a fear of dogs. Sometimes ducks who were dumped never had access to a body of water to swim in while they were growing up so they don't know they can swim and may even have a fear of going into water. This makes them a very easy target for predators. Some of the most common predators for ducks are dogs, raccoons, hawks, owls, opossums, wolves, etc.
IS IT ILLEGAL TO "SET A DUCK FREE" AT A PARK?
Yes. Releasing any domesticated animal into the wild or at a park is considered animal abandonment.
CAN I VOLUNTEER HERE?
We are not accepting volunteers at the moment, but we hope to in the future once we expand. Please feel free to contact us if you'd like to be contacted once we are accepting volunteers.
Q
A
Q
A
Q
A