supamac
New member
- Joined
- May 28, 2008
- Messages
- 154
Good news that the local authority have put up two large noticeboards (in several languages) on the railings at La Gola to ask well meaning visitors not to feed the ducks; these are permanent cabinets/glass casings in which there are clear prohibition signs and colourful poster explanations about why it is not helpful to feed the ducks with bread and also why fishing is not permitted. There were some paper notices earlier in the season but of course these didn't last.
So as I walked past this morning, I was a little miffed! A British family were feeding the ducks with bread while standing right beside the notices!!! I did remark out loud that there were clear notices NOT to feed the ducks at which point Mr M hurried me along before I got into my stride!! Not known as a raving environmentalist, I was nonetheless irritated that despite being asked really nicely through helpful notices, they appeared to believe they knew better than the environmentalists who have noticed the ill effects of what we had hitherto thought was an innocent family pastime.
The notices are really well written, take the trouble to explain and even acknowledge that it is hard to change our habits of the past. The essence is that now we are better informed, would we please resist!!
You can find much about this online. The RSPB and other agencies say: "Uneaten bread causes algal blooms, allows bacteria to breed and attracts rats and other vermin.
Apart from affecting water quality, the duck feeders may be damaging the health of the birds.
Large amounts of bread and other human foodstuffs can be harmful to wildfowl, leading to potentially fatal or disabling health conditions. Uneaten food can also cause changes to the chemical and bacteriological content of water, increasing the risk of avian disease.
Making large quantities of bread easily available stops ducks from eating a natural, balanced diet. It also breeds dependency on humans who aren't always there to provide.
White bread in particular has no real nutritional value, so the danger is that they will fill up on it instead of other foods that could be more beneficial to them.
There’s also a risk that ducks and other water fowl could get an illness known as angel wing, which is caused by not getting the right nutrients in their diet. The illness causes a deformity in birds’ wings that can hamper the way they fly or even stop them altogether, which could obviously be fatal."
So all in all, whatever we have thought about the very enjoyable family pastime of feeding the ducks, now that we DO know better, I hope visitors will take note and resist harming the ducks and wetland areas in and around the port.
So as I walked past this morning, I was a little miffed! A British family were feeding the ducks with bread while standing right beside the notices!!! I did remark out loud that there were clear notices NOT to feed the ducks at which point Mr M hurried me along before I got into my stride!! Not known as a raving environmentalist, I was nonetheless irritated that despite being asked really nicely through helpful notices, they appeared to believe they knew better than the environmentalists who have noticed the ill effects of what we had hitherto thought was an innocent family pastime.
The notices are really well written, take the trouble to explain and even acknowledge that it is hard to change our habits of the past. The essence is that now we are better informed, would we please resist!!
You can find much about this online. The RSPB and other agencies say: "Uneaten bread causes algal blooms, allows bacteria to breed and attracts rats and other vermin.
Apart from affecting water quality, the duck feeders may be damaging the health of the birds.
Large amounts of bread and other human foodstuffs can be harmful to wildfowl, leading to potentially fatal or disabling health conditions. Uneaten food can also cause changes to the chemical and bacteriological content of water, increasing the risk of avian disease.
Making large quantities of bread easily available stops ducks from eating a natural, balanced diet. It also breeds dependency on humans who aren't always there to provide.
White bread in particular has no real nutritional value, so the danger is that they will fill up on it instead of other foods that could be more beneficial to them.
There’s also a risk that ducks and other water fowl could get an illness known as angel wing, which is caused by not getting the right nutrients in their diet. The illness causes a deformity in birds’ wings that can hamper the way they fly or even stop them altogether, which could obviously be fatal."
So all in all, whatever we have thought about the very enjoyable family pastime of feeding the ducks, now that we DO know better, I hope visitors will take note and resist harming the ducks and wetland areas in and around the port.
