Posted on 04/15/2010 11:28:08 AM PDT by JoeProBono
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- A Florida couple have been charged with theft for capturing ducks from a community lake and arranging to have them killed at an animal shelter.
Robert and Blain Aymond infuriated their Frenchman's Landing subdivision neighbors in Palm Beach Gardens, who showed up at a preliminary hearing en masse last month wearing yellow ribbons with pictures of ducks, The Palm Beach Post reported.
One woman, Lorraine Lyon, tried to bring the ducks's ashes to the hearing but was unable to get them past security.
While critics call the Aymonds duck-killers, their lawyer, Mitchell Beers, said there is another side to the story. The couple raise orchids and were tired of duck droppings on their plants. They thought they had a right to get rid of ducks on their property, he added.
"It's getting out of hand," Beers said. "They're sending pictures of ducks to the judge, putting signs up saying that my clients murdered the ducks."
The Aymonds herded eight ducks onto their patio and then arranged for a trapper to take them to the shelter. They are scheduled to go on trial next month on a misdemeanor charge of stealing ducks valued at $280.
I resisted the temptation to send back pictures of the dogs, or of me and my friends grinning while kneeling behind a row of deceased Canadas or mallards, with the dogs lying on either side looking smug . . . .
. . . it would only cause trouble.
Oh really, you should have. But, believe it or not, I have friends who BREED goldens who are semi AR people. And they really don’t like the whole hunting things. BUT they breed a sporting breed. PEople are crazy.
You'd think they'd be more careful who they get in bed with.
It's like the hunters not worrying about the gun-banners when they just want to ban "those nasty assault rifles" - not realizing that most semi-auto hunting rifles qualify as "assault rifles" under the gun-banners' definition.
They know, but they think their dogs are people. They are idiots. I can’t explain it any better than that. They want some middle ground. To me, if you really think animals are just like people you HAVE to be like AR folks and let them live their own lives and not breed them. I don’t see a middle ground there. At least PETA folks are consistent. They’re wrong, but they are consistent.
One energetic dog could have protected their orchids, they didn’t have to resort to capturing the ducks and disposing of them. My dogs would love to have ducks to chase out of the yard. That would be Heaven for them.
I gotta agree - what a waste. Duck is delicious!
Canadian geese are sure a pest, but do they taste good? Always wondered, Michigan must have millions...
Why cremate them. I would just enjoy having them over for dinner.
How is that any more humane for the ducks?
The ducks would have a good chance of escaping alive and would probably not come back. Better than being trapped and killed, no?
First, I suspect the people who are upset about the killing of the ducks would be equally upset at you for having a dog chase them. Second, I suspect the ducks (being ducks and having zero understanding of death) would not prefer one over the other. They don’t like to be chased. And these ducks may not have a very good chance of escaping from a dog if your dog is very fast or very good at catching things. I don’t think your idea of harassing them is particularly humane.
Look. They are ducks. They are messy and these people have a right to their property. I think they went above and beyond by having the ducks disposed of instead of just wringing their necks.
You need a DEEP roasting pan (and a self-cleaning oven).
A lot of people don't like the way that Snow Geese (as opposed to Canadas) taste. The same way a lot of people think that Mergansers taste bad (they do - very fishy - most people don't even bother to try).
Shelley's first duck. She wouldn't even LOOK at it.
She got better . . .
That is a chukar (Hungarian partridge) that she hunted down and retrieved without any human intervention whatsoever.
The hunting club had an Upland training day, where the dogs quartered and flushed live birds (the chukars) and the gunners shot them. Chukars fly low and fast, and one cut back across the gallery so the gunners of course could not fire in that direction. Shelley locked on the bird as he passed over the gallery, so I just slipped her lead and told her, "Hunt 'em up!" She followed the bird down the pasture behind the gallery and flushed him as he settled. He flew about another 30 yards, she caught up with him again, he flew maybe another 40 yards, and she was on him before he could rise again and snatched him right out of the air.
She came dancing up the hill with her tail wagging and presented me with the still-living bird. He died (no doubt of exhaustion and fright) in my hands. So I gave him back to her and my husband took her picture with her personal catch.
When we take her to seminars, she is the Live Bird Specialist by acclamation. So long as she doesn't have to flush them repeatedly, she brings back chukars live and unharmed. She has also retrieved several mallards who escaped the crates and went to ground in marsh, on islands, in briar patches, etc. She jumps over them to get behind them, then grabs them high on the back so they can't flap or peck her, and delivers them proudly. One of our pro trainers actually calls me to "get Shelley off the truck" when the ducks get out.
. . . she wouldn't kill them, but they would be VERY upset.
This is stupid. Kill them at night and eat them.
Halloween before last someone came onto our fenced property and cut the bills off of our flock of ducks. It was one of the most horrible sights I have ever seen. Cruel beyond cruel, I wish I knew who did it.
You might ask your local sheriff who's a likely perp, so you can keep an eye out for him.
And lock up all the livestock on Hallowe'en, dogs and cats included. It seems to bring out the sick freaks.
Ducks are birds and they can fly, they could probably get away from a dog, even domestic ducks can fly a little. So it’s OK with you if the people killed the ducks just not the way they did it? Just trying to understand you here.
I have 3 Jack Russel Terriers and a hound dog. 2 of the Jacks would delight in the chase and if they caught a duck the hound who weighs about 80 pounds would take it away from them and eat it. The other Jack would run to me and tattle on the others.
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