Muscovy Duck Update

Dear Neighbors,

We're writing to give the community a clear, honest update on the Muscovy duck situation, because we know it has become a source of real disagreement over the past few weeks. We want to lay out what's happened, why we've made the decisions we have, and what happens next.

For those less familiar with the issue: over time, the population of Muscovy ducks (the black and red ducks, not the white ducks around the ponds) in our streets and yards has grown well beyond what anyone anticipated. The mess they leave behind has become significant, they've increasingly gotten in the way of daily life, and most concerning to us, many have taken to sleeping in the roads at night. Early on, we asked homeowners to stop feeding them, hoping that without a reliable food source they would move along on their own. Despite that request, feeding continued, and the population kept growing.

Our first response was to work with our wild hog hunter, who began catching ducks and relocating them to a farm in Kissimmee, which at the time was the only legal alternative to euthanasia (they can only be relocated to private property). That approach helped for a while but has become too slow and cumbersome to complete as the population has since grown beyond what he is able to manage on his own.

Before going further, the board consulted with a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist, to make sure that whatever we did next was both humane and lawful. A few things came out of that conversation that changed how we're able to approach this. Muscovy ducks are classified in Florida as a feral domestic animal, not a protected native species. As a nonnative species, they also compete with, and can spread disease to, Florida's native waterfowl. And importantly, FWC discourages moving Muscovy ducks from one location to another, which means relocation, the approach we had been relying on, isn't one they want us to lean on going forward. Given all of this, the biologist's recommendation was that humane euthanasia, along with destroying any eggs found, is the responsible path.

This is not the outcome we wanted, and we know it isn't easy to read. Many of you have grown attached to the ducks, and we understand and respect that. The board did not take this decision lightly, and we spent real time looking at every alternative available to us before arriving here.

Because our regular hunter can no longer keep pace with the numbers involved, we have hired a licensed wildlife control professional, Dr. Critter, to take this over. This service is not inexpensive, and funding it has required us to temporarily pause a few other community projects. We want to be upfront with you about this expense rather than have it come as a surprise later.

Dr. Critter will begin by scouting the neighborhood to put together a plan specific to our community. Once that's in place, his approach will involve using sedatives to safely and calmly catch the ducks, followed by humane euthanasia performed off-site.

If you see Dr. Critter or his team in the neighborhood over the coming weeks, please know they are authorized to be here, and we'd ask that you allow them to do their work without interference. We'd also ask, again, that everyone stop feeding the ducks. At this point, feeding doesn't just prolong the process, it works against the very thing we're trying to accomplish, for the community's safety, finances, and the well-being of pets and other wildlife in the community.

We know this is a difficult subject, and we don't expect everyone to agree with the decision. But we wanted the whole community understanding the same facts. If you have questions or concerns please reach out to us directly at sterlingmeadows32771@gmail.com.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this.

Sincerely,

The Sterling Meadows HOA Board