Duck Feeding Ban to Prevent Rats

The BBC reports that Feeding the ducks has been banned at two lakes in south Wales.

The rat population at The Wilderness and Pwll Y Waun lakes in Porthcawl has grown dramatically because the ducks are not eating food given by visitors. Park officials hope that the rat population will decrease if their easy food supply is cut off, and consequently have banned the feeding of ducks.

Posted by Tim on 31st January 2006, 14:52 #

The affect of high duck density on avian flu

It has been suggested that surely we can not advocate that high Duck Density is a good idea whilst avian flu is gripping the world. We point out though, that if the ducks are brought together into groups of high Duck Density, this would increase the distance between neighbouring groups, and thus we expect this would lower the risk of transmission of the virus between groups. What are your views on this? email them to webmaster@duckdensity.org.uk

Posted by Tim on 15th November 2005, 23:29 #

Ducks are 'a big' bird flu threat

The BBC reports that domestic ducks may pose a major threat of spreading avian flu to animals and humans.

The avian flu virus is not causing disease in healthy ducks, but they help the virus to mutate, with the danger that a mutation will arise that allows the virus to spread directly between humans.

Posted by Tim on 19th July 2005, 10:19 #

Mother hen hatches ducks rescue

The BBC reports that seven ducklings in Stirlingshire have something to crow about after they were saved from the frying pan by a hen.

Posted by Tim on 7th June 2005, 01:11 #

Rubber Duck Finally Removed From Dog

From MSN Xtra News, New Zeland ...

A rubber duck sat in a dog's stomach for five years before being removed by Swedish vets last week, a local newspaper said ...

Google News is a wonderful thing ;-) I've got some more duck-related gems to post over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled.

Update: Al Disley writes ...

Here's the original of that story you posted...

Summary: young dog eats rubber duck, owner advised will pass through the natural way, dog ill 5 years later, intact but now blackened rubber duck removed in a $2000 operation, owner comments that it must have been a good quality rubber duck and plans to keep it as an heirloom.

including a photo!

Posted by Tom on 20th April 2005, 09:08 #

More press

We've had a couple more mentions, in the local press this time.

Lucy Lynch of the Coventry Evening Telegraph tell us at that Warwick wings it into the top five, and includes a quote from me, as well as quotes from a Warwick University spokesman, sociology student Helen Woolston and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Our web address is notably absent though.

Meanwhile the Wandsworth Guardian reports that Roehampton doesn’t duck the issue of wildlife, and quotes someone from Roehampton who seems most disappointed that they're no longer number one! While they do include our web address, they manage to get it wrong.

We're also told we've had a mention in York student newspaper Vision. Their website is somewhat out of date, however, so I've no idea if they printed our address correctly ;-)

Posted by Tom on 4th March 2005, 10:44 #

The new layout is live!

The recent media attention we've recieved has prompted us to get on and finished with the new layout for the site that we've had on the back-burner for several months now. So, with DuckDensity.org.uk looking all spruced up, we still need your help with duck counts for universities across the country, those we're already listing and those we're not. Get counting!

Posted by Tom on 8th February 2005, 01:00 #