Do you think these folks are guilty of duck theft?

[denim deb]

We have a lake near us. It has a park. Many years ago, they had to close the park. Reason? There were so many Canada geese that quite literally EVERYTHING was covered in several inches of goose scat. I do not know what they did w/the geese, but I do know that there isn't anywhere near the same number of geese now.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

They removed the ducks from a community pond, according to the charges, not from their own yard. Imagine instead if they had removed a statue placed in the community park, or more to the point, a tree or shrub that grew as a volunteer from a seed (rather than being planted by the landscape company) that the board had decided to allow to remain. Typically the communty has a board of director who make decisions about community assets Making decisions about community assets is not within the rights of an individual member. If they had a problem with the ducks, they should have taken it to the board. Afterwards, if they did not like the board's decision, they could have circulated a petition to force the removal, or at least a community-wide vote on it. THAT would have been proper procedure.

X2

 

[Sunny Side Up]

If you follow the link in the first post you should be able to get the updated stories from the news station. The judge still hasn't made a decision in the case. There haven't been any interviews with representatives from the HOA, I'd like to hear from them whether they considered the ducks to be property of the community. I'd also like to hear a statement from the animal shelter explaining why they decided to euthanize the ducks. The couple's lawyer says it's because the shelter was concerned for the safety of the ducks, that they didn't have room to keep them, but that doesn't sound right.

The latest TV report says that this couple hired a professional trapper to catch the ducks. Wouldn't you think that a professional trapper would first verify the ownership of the animals they're being hired to trap? I haven't heard if the ducks were caught/trapped on the couple's property or if the trapper went into a communal area.

Sigh. What a mess. I hope that something good can come out of all this, like better understanding & communication within developments that have ducks, geese or swans in their lakes & ponds, so that the waterfowl-lovers and those less tolerant can all still find a good middle ground.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

The original newspaper article says they were taken from the lake.

 

[tammyd57]

"Robert and Blaine Aymond hired an animal trapper who removed the birds from the lakefront community. "

It doesn't say if the ducks were removed from the lake or the couple's property, just from the 'community'.

There's a good sized pond in a park not far from my house that has a huge number of all kinds of ducks and geese. Every year the population explodes and neighbors start complaining to the city. The city traps a large number of them and gives them to the local 4H & FFA for the kids to take care of. Most of them get shown at the fair and then auctioned off. So the ducks get their 15 minutes of fame in the showring and then make someone a nice supper.

 

[Tdub4chiks]

It's not the ducks problem that human's built their precious homes on their pond. If these people owned this pond, it would be different. This is a community, and it should be the community to make the decisions. These people had no right to make the decision on their own. Guilty.

 

[desertdarlene]

That is sad, I hope that they didn't take the most friendly of the ducks. That's why you have to discuss it with your neighbors and HOA/community council. There, they can determine which ducks to trap and what to do with them. I would hope that they would trap aggressive and problem ducks, first. So sad, not fair to those ducks who probably trusted people.

 

[pips&peeps]

To answer the OP's question. My response is that there is not enough information given in the article to make a decision like that. We do not know all the details.

Did the person ask the HO assn to take care of the nuisance? We don't know.

Were the birds feral or did the HO assn buy them and place them? We don't know.

Did the person tell the HO they were removing the birds on such and such a date? We don't know.

What are the laws regarding feral populations in this particular State? We don't know.

I think alot of people are jumping to conclusions.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I looked up the article online from our local newspaper and geez, this story is really crazy, convoluted & complicated. It seems that those ducks really did belong to the HOA, and that the couple originally agreed with their purchase, only later to find them a nuisance. There were plans made to come to an agreement but they fell through. Then it seems the couple was advised to proceed in a certain way, only later to be charged with a crime for doing it. When you read the comments made after these articles you'll see that a lot of folks are angry with the shelter for their part in this matter. It seems that the couple made a cash donation to the facility when they brought the ducks in, which they say is often a standard practice. But it sure looks like they used the donation to persuade the facility to euthanize the ducks right away.

Read the article for yourself: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/trial-starts-monday-for-couple-accused-of-foul-992562.html
and also http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/palm-beach-gardens-couple-defends-theft-of-8-994222.html

This has some interesting details: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-duck-roundup-is-a-case-of-ashes-564965.html
and also http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-couple-insists-no-foul-play-in-ducks-723885.html

It's just such a shame, especially that this had to happen to those poor ducks, and to the people who loved them too much but maybe not too well. I don't know how they kept them there, but I don't think it's a good idea to just have a flock of domestic ducks that roam the community and are fed on the whim of whoever wants to give them attention. And I still don't know what the intentions of this couple were, but they certainly had many other more compassionate & sensible solutions available.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I must have misread the original article. Nevertheless, it does say they rounded up the ducks! The HOA board have purchased eggs and hatched the ducklings several years earlier, so they were not wild or feral ducks, but property bought and paid for with HOA board approval and funding. Wow.