Manito ducks boxed up to go

Forty domestic ducks were rounded up from Spokane’s Manito Park on Thursday, part of an effort to reduce an overpopulation of fowl that has been damaging the duck pond’s fragile ecosystem.

The ducks were loaded into boxes and cages and carted off by people who had previously offered to adopt them.

“They are definitely going to be my babies,” said Melissa Howard of Worley, Idaho, who with her husband, Warren, packed off 14 ducks in the back of their pickup.

The adopting owners agreed to place the ducks in private areas that would be protected from predators.

“We’ve got a big pond we are going to release them into,” and an adjacent outbuilding that will serve as a duck barn, Warren Howard said.

The roundup was a step to reduce the number of feeding fowl and gulls at Manito’s popular duck pond. In the next few weeks, signs will be posted at the pond asking people not to feed the ducks, which has led to overpopulation and accompanying pollution that poses a health threat to the ducks as well as to people, park supervisor Steve Nittolo said.

Less than a half-hour after the roundup, a woman showed up with a bag of bread pieces and began tossing the bread to the ducks.

Nittolo and others have said they will be patient in weaning the public from the time-honored pastime of feeding the ducks.

“We’re not the duck police,” Nittolo said. “We are just hoping people will police themselves.”

Bird lovers who feed the ducks are not helping the wild creatures by supplying an artificial food source, officials have said, and the ducks will fare better in the long run if they are forced to fend for themselves. Plus, wild ducks will stop frequenting the pond if bread and other people food are no longer available, officials said.

The stage was set earlier this month for Thursday’s roundup when park workers erected wire pens and threw grain inside to attract ducks to the traps. With the help of staffers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program, the openings to the pens were closed Thursday morning and the ducks were sorted to remove the domesticated and mixed-breed ducks.

Nittolo said he also hopes to reduce the number of gulls that show up at the park for the food handouts.

In addition to reducing duck populations, the parks department has embarked on an effort to redesign the pond to improve its water quality and ecological health. The department is seeking a consultant to work with the public to come up with a plan that could include a circulating stream to add oxygen to the water. In addition, more natural areas with cattails and other vegetation could be created to provide habitat for turtles and frogs, Nittolo said.