After outrage, Palmetto Bay seeks wildlife plan, but no ban on duck killings — for now

Following outrage over the killing of about 20 Muscovy ducks in a local park, the Palmetto Bay Village Council decided to develop a humane wildlife management plan, but not yet ban trapping and killing the waterfowl.

“We have a very unique opportunity here,” said Mayor Karyn Cunningham at a council meeting Monday evening. “We can’t turn back the hands of time and change things that have already happened, but we can pull together and move forward with a solid plan for the future.”

The council voted on a resolution that directs village staff to consult with various organizations, including Zoo Miami, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), to “provide analysis and recommendations to the council” in order to craft a management plan.

Vice Mayor Leanne Tellam, who sponsored the resolution, said the plan was to research what would be appropriate, “and that doesn’t mean a plan to kill or a plan to preserve all.”

One resident at the meeting offered to take the ducks in. “Relocate them to my house,” Patty Keller, a longtime Palmetto Bay resident, said.

The vote is in response to public outcry after the village earlier this year — without seeking public input — hired a trapper to kill an “aggressive” group of Muscovy ducks in Coral Reef Park. Officials hired the trapper after the mayor and parks director received a complaint from a PTA member at the neighboring Coral Reef Elementary School about a pre-K student who hit her head and needed stitches because she fell while being chased by a duck.

READ MORE: A hired trapper killed ‘aggressive’ ducks at a Miami-area park. Then came the outrage

The resolution passed 3-2, with Councilmembers Marsha Matson and Patrick Fiore voting against it.

“That’s like the fox guarding the hen house,” Fiore said of the resolution. He said he plans to make his own proposal at next month’s meeting that will require any action toward wildlife to come before the Village Council, with the exception of animals that are sick or injured.

Council votes down trapping ban

Matson said she has about four Muscovy ducks living in her yard right now. “And I do worry about them, considering the atmosphere going on,” she said.

She proposed a motion to explicitly ban the killing, trapping or removal of Muscovy ducks on public property, including parks. It failed 3-2, with Fiore being the second “yes” vote.

Cunningham said she understands the intention behind Matson’s proposal, but that it’s not the appropriate time to implement such a policy because the village is only in the research phase of the wildlife management plan.

Cunningham said later in the meeting that officials in nearby cities, including Pinecrest and Cutler Bay, have also seen a decrease in their duck populations. She suggested that police could potentially do a “sweep-through” of certain parks to catch rogue trappers who may be responsible.

‘Give them to me’

Over 30 people provided spoken or written public comment on the matter. Most of them disagreed with the decision to kill Muscovy ducks. Many said they have seen a major decrease in the duck population throughout the village — not just in Coral Reef Park — and that they suspect private trappers are responsible.

Keller said she has “seen firsthand the violent, cruel, shocking and inhumane treatment and extermination of the wildlife in our village.”

“Give them to me. I will take care of them,” she said. “I would love it if you put ‘em all in my backyard, my front yard. And I will take care of them because I love animals and I care about them very much. If not, my mother-in-law has 40 acres down in Homestead and runs a ranch. I would love all the peacocks, the Muscovy ducks, relocated to our farm.”

James Wildman, the humane educator for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, drove down from Hollywood to attend the meeting. He emphasized that trapping ducks “should be the last option.”

“I hope that in the future, you will exhaust every other possibility before you even consider trapping or removing the ducks,” Wildman said. “You don’t have to love ducks to be against the removal. You just have to love the idea of fairness.”

Wildman said the most humane way to manage duck populations is to remove their eggs before they’re viable. He also offered to train the village park staff for free on how to collect eggs. He and many others at the meeting warned that feeding the ducks exacerbates conflicts, because it makes them dependent on people, and that many foods, like bread, make the birds sick.

Margaret Haber said the public reaction is “astonishing, and it’s only going to escalate.”

She said she is a cancer nurse. “I’ve seen a lot of death, and a lot of bad death, and I have to say that the pictures of the way this happened, and having trappers coming again into the village and all the birds disappearing, it’s very traumatic for me,” Haber said.

“Nature is what separates us from paved-over areas like Kendall and Doral,” Alexandra Flinn said. “It never occurred to me that if I didn’t say I liked ducks, the village would kill them. My kids were never chased by a duck. I’ve walked in the park hundreds of times, and I’ve never been chased by a duck. I don’t think that’s because I’m a duck whisperer.”