Feathers are ruffled as 80 ducks now in DSPCA care
THE DSPCA is caring for more than 80 orphan ducklings that were victim of a TikTok craze that prompted youngsters to buy birds from strangers in the streets, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Gillian Bird, head of education at the
Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, this weekend confirmed the agency had been inundated with discarded ducklings in recent days.
‘We currently have over 80 ducklings in our care. They are being cared for based on their needs,’ Ms Bird told the MoS.
‘A number of these ducklings are under special care with the veterinary team. As these poor creatures do not have their parents to look after them, they have a special area with heat lamps, food and water.’
Ms Bird stressed that ducklings are not pets and that keeping them in homes is cruel and endangers their lives.
‘Caring for these animals involves keeping them clean and warm under electric headlamps and as they are very messy eaters their bedding needs to be regularly changed,’ she added. ‘They are provided with fresh water and special food which is checked on throughout the day to keep it fresh.
‘They are also inspected regularly by the DSPCA vet team to see that they have not had any adverse effects from their mistreatment.
‘As they get older and bigger and are able to regulate their own body temperatures they will be moved to an area with our own resident fowl.’
It was a frantic start of the week for the DSPCA after reports emerged of ducks being scooped from canals and ponds and taken away from their mothers, endangering the lives of the newborn birds.
The ducklings were then sold to children for as little as €5 on the streets of Dublin. The charity also received distressing reports of people carrying boxes of the animals around the city to sell.
The DSPCA strongly urged people not to take part in this ‘idiotic’ social media trend. ‘We’re hoping we can stop this idiotic trend now before it escalates into something more sinister,’ Ms Bird told the MoS.
‘People have to realise that these animals are not going to survive in a house or if they’re released back into the wild.’
Thankfully, some big-hearted members of the public went to the aid of the ducklings and Ms Bird said the kindness of strangers saved the lives of several at-risk ducks.
‘A lady rang us to say she’s rescued 10 ducklings from a man selling them for €5 each. She bought them all, but chances are this person is just going to flush a few more out from the canal because he made €50.’
Ms Bird also issued a stark warning to parents of the possible penalties facing those found to be in possession of wild birds, pointing out that it is a criminal offence and illegal to remove animals from the wild or to keep them as pets.