When someone calls a wildlife rescue in Florida and says that they have found orphaned ducklings, one of the first things the rescue typically asks is, “What kind are they?” This question breaks my heart, because the answer can make a difference between life and death for the ducklings, and typically, the answer is their end.
Muscovies are considered to be an invasive species in the state of Florida; this means that once captured, they cannot legally be released back into the wild. Since the job of wildlife rehabbers is to get animals back on their feet so they can be released, they don’t want things that have to be kept. When they turn Muscovy ducklings away, they can only give the people one option: take them to the nearest veterinarian who will take them. Nine times out of ten, the person takes them to the vet’s office, expecting those folks to care for them. What they don’t know is that the vet’s office ends up euthanizing them because they don’t want them, either. Vets are stuck in the same boat as wildlife rehabbers; they can’t release the ducklings once they’re grown.
When the rescue I work with gets calls from people and from vets’ offices saying they have ducklings, I take the babies in because I can’t bear to let them die. I then must work to find someone in my network of people to see if any of them will raise them. Then, my network has to try to find someone who will take the ducklings once they’re grown. These are the people who are getting harder and harder to find, and this is the reason I started The Muscovy Sanctuary of Florida. These ducklings need a place to call home.
“But,” you say, “not all ducklings are supposed to survive. Ducks have a lot of babies because most of them get eaten before they have a chance to grow up. If they only had three in a clutch, they’d all get killed before they grew up.”
This may be true, but that fact doesn’t stop people from finding orphaned ducklings and wanting a way to keep them alive. People don’t go to the trouble to save an animal only to have it be killed.
So, we take the ducklings in, knowing that the likelihood of us finding a family who will take them will be very slim. The truth of the matter is that they don’t need a family to take them in. What they need is a large plot of land where they’ll be able to live out their lives free from the dangers they’d face in the wild.
I love the ducklings, but I didn’t start The Muscovy Sanctuary of Florida because it was my life-long dream. I started it because I saw a need that desperately needed to be met. I had a lot of conversations with God to see if he thought I should act on that need, and thus far, he’s opened doors to move me forward. This is something that is sooo much bigger than I am, and it’s going to take a lot of hands to make it work. The ducklings are going to continue to come in, and unless we come together to create the Sanctuary, those of us who have been taking them in will have to stop, and the ducklings will have to die. That’s why we need you.
Please, if you care at all for these ducklings, click the link below to see all the ways you can help. You may live far away from the rescue, but you can still help us in many ways. That page will show you what you can do.
For the sake of the ducklings yet to come, I thank you.
Gail Dixon
President & Duckling Mama
The Muscovy Sanctuary of Florida
