Moeliker is not worried about duck deaths from bread: “I have not seen any scientific evidence for that. The current decline in the mallard population is not due to food, but to high chick mortality.” Ruud van der Velden, leader of the Rotterdam PvdD, cannot provide scientific evidence when asked, but does not agree with Moeliker. “We do see deaths from eating too much or unhealthy food. We are drawn to this by residents, for example in the Bloemhof district. The Bird Protection also says that bread is bad for ducks.” “This is how ducks get their food from the water,” says Moeliker. “Because of the treading water and rooting with the beak, the bottom clouds up and all kinds of things – water snails, crustaceans, seeds – come up to eat. So you see that after the sandwich they switch back to other food. Ducks take care of their own disc of five.” The just-fed ducks set a good example. After a few bites of bread they switched to the duckweed that floats along the bank. Then they dive back into the water and start ‘gobying’ just before the bank: head in the ditch, butt just above the water’s surface and kicking with the orange legs. Moeliker shows himself critically among the ducks along the Westersingel. “The municipality uses the argument that bread is unhealthy for ducks. That is partly true: bread contains salt and is an unnatural food. If ducks only eat bread, it’s bad for them. Combined with other foods – the insects and aquatic plants they normally eat – it’s not much of a problem. That’s how ducks live in the big city.” The feed ban is intended to prevent city birds from becoming ill or dying earlier due to bread and other food residues, the municipality writes in the statement.press release . The measure also prevents nuisance from pests that come to the food leftovers – in 2020 there were four thousand reports of rat nuisance. “Because these problems affect the entire city, the municipality has opted for a city-wide feed ban,” says a spokesperson for Stadsbeheer. The decision still has to be approved by the city council in June, but that will probably not be a problem. From 1 July, the municipality of Rotterdam wants to ban the feeding of urban animals, following a motion by the Party for the Animals (PvdD). ![]() Whoever wants to feed bread to the ducks must hurry. “With small pieces of bread you can feed in a targeted manner,” says Moeliker as he squats down by the water’s edge. After a few bites, the ducks climb ashore and snatch the bread from his hand. “This is the fun of feeding ducks, the direct contact with the animals. And there is much more bird life to discover.” He throws a handful of pieces of bread into the water. A flying seagull discovers the loot first, but continues to circle above it without fishing the bread out of the water. As a result, the ducks’ attention is quickly aroused: two drakes – drakes – rise from the grass and swim towards the leftover bread. Here is a machine translation (into English) of that report: Doubts in Rotterdam about the usefulness of the ban on feeding city birds.įEEDING BAN: A ban on feeding city birds in Rotterdam should prevent the animals from getting sick. Among the ducks near a canal, biologist Kees Moeliker is critical of the measure.Īs soon as Kees Moeliker catches sight of ducks, he takes black, folding binoculars from his bag. Through the lens he studies the group sitting further down in the grass along the Rotterdam Westersingel. “They are mallards,” Moeliker says. He is a biologist and director of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. “I’m glad we found them so quickly, because the mallard is in bad shape. The numbers are declining, by as much as 30 to 40 percent. Duck lovers are very concerned.”įrom his shoulder bag, Moeliker, who became world famous as the duck man through his study of homosexual necrophilia among drakes, takes a bag with leftover bread. A corn sandwich is cut into neat cubes. “I got this off the breadboard this morning. Shall we see if we can tempt the ducks for a quick bite?” ![]() ![]() The news organization NRC reports, on April 7, 2022, about the pushback on that, especially from the city’s most eminent duck biologist. The city of Rotterdam plans to prohibit people from feeding bread to ducks.
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