It was a running of the ducks in Eunice on Friday afternoon, but it’s not what you are probably thinking. The City of Eunice posted an announcement to the community on Facebook issuing an Adopt a Duck effort to help with the duck overpopulation problem.
It didn’t take much time for the community to come out and try their attempt at capturing the ducks! I spoke with one of the local residents, Collin Lejeune who was lucky enough to capture 4 ducks on Friday afternoon. He says they were able to successfully capture the ducks to relocate them to their local family pond.
The task is not as simple as one might think, however, as many of the locals who tried were not successful.
The Eunice Recreation department is currently in the process of making improvements to the Eunice Community Nature Trail and Walking Park – a project initiated as part of the city’s rehabilitation efforts upon receiving a $400,000 grant.
The city leaders stated the over-population of the ducks has caused issues contributing to erosion of the pond as well as a matter of sanitation issues. One concerned citizen also mentioned the overcrowding of ducks raised a concern to their safety and well-being as they have witnessed people stepping on the ducks in the park.
The decision to welcome and encourage the community to come out and ‘adopt a duck’ was made in an effort to help in relocating the ducks and give local citizens who have enjoyed coming out to see and feed them the opportunity to rehome the ducks so they can continue to be enjoyed rather than having to call someone in to eradiate them.
Anyone interested in adopting a duck (or several) to rehome can visit the Eunice Walking park located on West Maple Street during daylight hours with their own equipment (nets, cages/carriers) to adopt the ducks.
