THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240274
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 68 lines
Residents of the quiet Kings Grant neighborhood wanted to know: Who would do such a thing?
Who would go out on a moonlit night with a blowgun and shoot darts into ducks sleeping beside a lake?
That's what happened Sunday night or early Monday at the edge of Witt Lake on Watergate Lane.
At least three ducks, two male mallards and a large Pekin, were shot with 3 1/2-inch steel darts. Two of the ducks had darts sticking clear through their bodies. A third was wounded in the side.
Both animal control officers and wildlife rehabilitation experts were unable to get close enough to the ducks Monday to catch and treat them. However, a passer-by, luring the wounded white duck with bread, grabbed the animal and withdrew the dart.
With blood on its neck, the Pekin swam off with two companions and seemed to be eating and bathing normally. It would not be as easy to catch the wild mallards. And in one case, it would not be as easy to extract the dart. It was lodged in the cheek behind the mallard's mouth, protruding through the other side of its head.
``Unfortunately, you usually have to wait until they get so sick they allow themselves to be caught instead of going off to die,'' said Nan McClain, a wildlife rehabilitator.
``It's pretty sad that people think that's a fun thing to do,'' she added.
The woundings were not the first in the area. In February, a sea gull was found with a dart through its neck. Many other animals, often ducks in nesting season, have been stoned or otherwise attacked.
``I can't imagine any person wanting to do a thing like this,'' said Ida Bradshaw, a Kings Grant resident who discovered the wounded ducks when she went to feed them Monday morning.
``These are defenseless creatures that trust you,'' she said.
Virginia Beach Animal Control officials said the blowguns are not readily available at sporting goods stores and are not considered toys.
Residents said teen-agers often hang out at night near the duck resting place. But teen-agers don't normally possess blowguns, typically bamboo poles about 4 feet long that propel darts or other objects by the force of one's breath.
Like other migrating species, mallards are federally protected. It is a federal crime to harm them, or even disturb their nesting areas.
Neighbors said they hoped news of the incident might result in leads for Virginia Beach police or animal control officers.
The three wounded ducks might not have been the only ones. There was a pile of feathers beside the lake. And an animal control officer found a fourth dart on the ground.
``You don't know how many others went off and died somewhere,'' said Jamerson Hook, a wildlife rehabilitator who went to the lake in hopes of catching the ducks.
Bradshaw tried to coax the wounded ducks close enough for Hook to catch them with his 15-foot-long net, but the animals would not approach them. Hook said he planned to return when the ducks might not be so wary.
``I don't know what these kids are up to these days,'' Hook said. ``It seems they have no conscience at all. We used to do devilish things when we were kids, but nothing sadistic.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
The Virginian-Pilot
This duck, pierced by a steel dart, was one of many vulnerable to
attack as it slept at the edge of Witt Lake on Watergate Lane.
KEYWORDS: DUCKS INJURIES DARTS by CNB