Mystery as dozens of sick, dead ducks wash ashore at Los Angeles park
They were some real sitting ducks.
Dozens of sick ducks have been spotted at a Los Angeles area park — some even washing ashore dead in a nearby lake — leaving locals wondering whether someone has poisoned them.
Eagle-eyed residents who frequent Hollenbeck Park in the Boyle Heights district of Los Angeles reported that the birds began washing up on the shore a few days ago.
“I usually come running here around the lake and, you know, sometimes you’ll see birds, but there’s just any number of them, like at least 15 or so just washed up on the shore,” a local woman who wanted to remain anonymous told KTLA.
The woman said she first noticed the deceased ducks on Saturday — and by the time she returned Sunday, there were a handful of others. The next day, at least five others were dead and a sixth was struggling to stay alive, she told the outlet.
Another resident, Margarito Garcia, noticed a goose standing by a dying duck, seemingly trying to protect the defenseless bird.
“I come every weekend to walk my dog through here,” he said. “Unfortunately, it looks like someone has been poisoning the ducks, I think, because they are dying slow.”
While several locals told the outlet they’ve reported the dead birds to animal control, no one has received a response or explanation as to what has caused the ducks to fall ill.
Howie Berkowitz, founder of the Duck Pond of Lake Elsinore, a nonprofit sanctuary home to around 200 ducks, said that while the ducks could have been poisoned, there may be other reasons for their sudden deaths.
“One is that the water is actually contaminated and that could be either through someone has done that, or the other possibility is that there is poisonous algae out there, especially during the summer when the water gets hot,” he said.
According to Berkowitz, any duck that appears sick should be taken to a veterinarian immediately.
People and their pets should also stay away from the sick birds, Berkowitz added.
Another expert said that avian botulism, an illness caused by bacteria, could be causing the deaths.
In that scenario, a duck would ingest a lethal bacteria and die before the bacteria would be spread by flies feeding on its carcass, which then infect other animals in the area.
Officials will not know if this is the case until a necropsy is performed on one of the dead birds.
