As Easter nears, more parents may be turning to feed stores and local farms to buy ducklings, chicks or baby rabbits for their children as gifts.
The South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation center has already received seven ducklings, and anticipate they will see even more animals brought in after Easter once their owners realize they are not capable of taking care of them.
“We do not normally take them if they’re someone ‘s pets. We’re going to tell them we’re not going to accept them, but people always finds them, they turn them loose, they’re in parking lots. We can’t just turn something down, we will take it in and do what we can to place it,” said Gail Barnes, executive director of the center.
“They’ll either go to a private pond or out to a playa, but they’re an invasive species so we really don’t want them in our playas, but we have nowhere else to put them.”
While the reasons as to why these pets are given back up vary from allergies to upkeep, Barnes says many families just don’t realize how much work goes into taking care of them.
“They grow very fast, they are messy and they do live for several years, so you need to be able to take care of them. Ducks are not born knowing how to swim,” Barnes said. “So, if you think you can buy a duck and go release it at a playa, take your kids, and go out to a playa and release it. You’re going to watch it drown. Ducks have to learn to swim.”
In order to keep the ducklings from drowning, the little pools at the center have ramps both inside and outside of the pools.
Barnes also mentioned that the “Duck Hut” where all the ducks are kept must be hosed down several times a day to just to keep it clean.
Barnes advises that parents not get their children Easter pets as gifts at all, but if they choose to and then wind up having to give it up, to be sure that it goes either to a private pond or a farmer who will want it.
For questions or advice on how to better care for your Easter pets, contact the center at 806-799-2142.
