Newport Beach trying to duck the law

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- City officials think they may have found a solution

for a duck problem that so far just won’t go away.

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said the city is talking with a

private company that handles animal relocation to find a legal and humane

way to move ducks and mallards that frequent the Grand Canal on Balboa

Island.

A new city ordinance went into effect earlier this year that forbids

people from setting out large quantities of food and water for ducks and

mallards. The idea is to discourage large numbers of the animals from

congregating and creating odor and bacteria problems such as the ones

common in a small area of the Grand Canal.

But in the months since the ordinance has passed, not much has changed

there. So city officials may again get creative.

A U.S. Department of Fish and Game rule that forbids moving migratory

birds has caused city staff members to believe their hands are tied when

it comes to mallards. Unlike the white ducks that are classified as

domestic, mallards are a migratory species.

But, as city staffers have learned through talks with Fish and Game

officials, the Grand Canal mallards stopped migrating a long time ago

because the food and water put out for them there took away any incentive

to leave.

“We think there’s a legal way to do it,” Kiff said. “We have a

relocation proposal we’re looking at.”

One of the biggest concerns of hiring animal controllers to move the

birds is making sure they don’t return.

“If we spent thousands of dollars and then the ducks came back, we’d

look pretty foolish,” Kiff said.

Kiff said it is not yet known how much the operation would cost or

where the ducks and mallards would be relocated -- only that the city

would be careful to observe the letter and spirit of laws designed to

protect the animals.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .

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