Florida treatment of Muscovy Ducks

I have tears as I am writing this and it has been really bugging me ever since I started to follow this woman on Instagram. This is hard for me to write because I love animals so much. I always hoped that I could do something good with my life and I think that in the last couple of years, I finally found it. I love animals very much and want to help them as best I can. Animals are innocent, pure, creatures of God that only deserve our respect and our love. This is another reason why I started this site as well, in hope of reaching as many people as I can that care for animals too and other matters that affect me and other people. They unfortunately don’t have a voice and it is our job to protect them.
I discovered her amazing story on Geobeats animals and I suggest you take a look at it as well. This is the story of Toni, an amazing woman who lives in the state of Florida, among Muscovy ducks and you can learn a lot from following her on Instagram, about Muscovy ducks. Florida where every year, people go on witch hunts to harm and kill innocent animals that they one day decide to dump out in the wild to fend for themselves. Now they call these animals invasive species. Iguana, Monkeys, Python, Muscovy ducks just to name a few.

Muscovy ducks are not native to Florida, but were introduced in the mid-1960s as an ornamental species for urban parks and have since established feral populations. They are also popular in farming for their eggs and meat, and have escaped from farms to establish wild populations, because they can fly very well. Many Muscovy ducks have also been released into the wild by people who no longer wanted to keep them as pets. 

Muscovy ducks in Florida are protected from cruelty under Florida Statute 828.12, which prohibits harassment and inhumane killing of animals. However, some incidents of cruelty against Muscovy ducks in Florida have been reported, including:

• Shooting In April 2024, at least four Muscovy ducks were shot in Teakwood Village, Largo, Florida. A video captured on surveillance footage showed a man firing a rifle at the ducks from a yard while families swam nearby.
• Other cruelty : Muscovy ducks have also been kicked, chased with brooms, hit by vehicles, and beaten to death. 

However, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says that Muscovy ducks can be legally killed humanely because they are non-native and invasive. The FWC also suggests methods for slowly decreasing the population, such as shaking eggs to prevent them from hatching. 

I mean which is it at this point ? If you let authorities know that someone is abusing a duck, they will basically laugh at you, telling you that there is not much they can do about it. So this law is basically, completely useless. Fish & Wildlife, police do not care about what happen to these ducks and this is where the problem begin and where you start having people that deliberately abuse and torture these poor animals. Unless people start to really complain about it, making calls, getting this out there, citing their outrage, this will never stop. These ducks need our help. Unfortunately there are so many of these ducks now that it is impossible to save them all and rescue them to put them into rescues or sanctuary.

These animals did not ask to be release in the wild just to end up being abuse by people.

Mick the Muscovy duck was found as a duckling who lost his family when he was very young, and was found by Toni and rescued. Ducklings will readily imprint on humans and view them as their family. She raised this sweet boy and Mick got very attached to her. She also taught him how to survive in the wild. Mick was always free to do and go where he wanted when he was old enough to fly and fend for himself. He would always come back to Toni to visit her. Ducks are amazing this way. They never forget you and who raised them, fed them, loved them. They can be amazing, loving animals, just like a dog or a cat. They have sweet personalities and are very social and smart. They unfortunately also trust humans and will go to them for food.

One day though, Mick never came back home. Toni never saw him again and to this day, she is not sure what happened to him. We can only assume the worst although we always remain hopeful he will come back. But it’s been almost a year now since he was last seen and there is very little hope at this point that he will ever come back home to his adopted mother, because someone somewhere might have hurt him. Mick trusted people.

It’s our job to help these birds stay safe and we can, maybe relocate them into safe rescues or sanctuaries willing to take them to keep them safe from harm. Teach your children to respect animals, their lives also matter as much as any native species. Keep your dog on a leash if you see wild animals, ducks, snakes or any wild life. Caring for animals makes us humans. It’s our empathy towards innocent animals that defines us as being human beings. Animals are not born with malicious intent towards humans. They are only born to survive the harsh environment that is the wild and on top of that, they also have to be aware of predators and humans. A baby animal is not raised with the intention to hurt humans, unlike how we can teach our kids to be respectful of an animal’s life.

If you would like to do your part in helping Muscovy ducks, you can sign this petition started by Toni to end the cruelty done to these poor ducks.

Sign the petition here

You can also help them by contacting Fish & Wildlife and letting them know how outrageous the treatment of these ducks is.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Call, write, let them know through their social medias pages how unhappy the treatment of these poor ducks makes you. I think after introducing them against their will, we owe them this much.

Visit here