Sikhs back national campaign
A national campaign seeks to educate the general public about the Sikh religion, the effort stemming from widespread hate crimes against Sikhs following 9/11.
Local Sikh leaders said the campaign
the field and hatched them.”
The early operation was rudimentary, with Marmon using a dog kennel to raise the ducklings until they were old enough to be released on their own – but they quickly began upgrading.
A 100-foot unit was built to house the ducklings with different areas separated from others based on their stage of development.
“Hatching eggs wasn’t a prerequisite of my job,” Marmon said.
It quickly became part of his job at the club and other people started taking notice – including officials.
“We had the federal government come to the place ready to muff and cuff me, but they let me go when they realized I knew what I was doing,” Marmon said.
Since then, Marmon has built a second unit to handle more ducks and said other salvage operations have modeled their buildings after his work.
Marmon said the operation is a nonprofit with an all-volunteer board of directors. It receives funding from farmers, hunters and the Yuba County Water Agency.
“Now, we’re only getting about 1,000 ducks each year and it used to be about 2,000 and on good years, we’d get close to 3,000,” Marmon said. “They’re mostly wood ducks and some mallards.”
Each year, Marmon requests a list from the government tracking the birds he’s raised and released. It turns out they’re well traveled.
As expected, many are in California, but his banded ducks have been shot or killed in the surrounding states, as well as Canada and Mexico.
“In 22 years on the ranch, I’ve only shot one of my own ducks,” Marmon said. “It’s an honor to get a banded duck, because it’s uncommon.”
Marmon said all levels of schools and even some senior citizens have come to tour the facility. He likes showing it off.
Pat’s wife, Terry Marmon, has been involved from the start and shares the same love for salvaging ducks.
“It’s been a great project watching all these baby ducks grow up,” Marmon 72, said. “The whole family helps – it’s a team effort.”
Marmon first fell in love with raising birds at age 10 after he found some quail eggs near a swimming hole.
“I took those eggs home and my mom helped me get a light and use some damp cloths to care for the eggs and I loved it,” Marmon said. “After that, I raised anything I could.”