Rescuers seek to relocate 47 ducks rescued from Orem park

OREM — A group gathered Wednesday to rescue and find new homes for dozens of ducks currently dwelling at a city park.

"Orem City asked us to come and rescue the domesticated ducks that are here at Nielsen's Grove Park," said Adison Smith of the group Wasatch Wanderers. "Every year at Nielsen's Grove Park, (the city drains) the pond so that children don't go on the ice during the winter. This year somebody told them if they didn't refill the water that the overpopulation of ducks that were here would leave, but domestic ducks — they can't fly — and they are stranded here. They started dying because of dehydration and started being attacked by humans and animals."

Smith said there has been a significant number of deaths in the duck population at the park, located at 1931 South Sandhill Rd., as survivors have gone to neighboring properties to drink water from sprinklers. She said wild mallards at the park have also become more domesticated as a result of being surrounded by domesticated ducks that were dumped there at some point.

"The city asked us to humanely remove them and find homes for them," Smith said. "We're trying to offer a humane resource for Utah and surrounding states to provide a sanctuary for the ducks, the dumped pet ducks, and to get them into homes because there are people that want them and killing isn't necessary."

The group gathered for a couple of hours Wednesday night, deploying nets and steering the ducks toward a trap where the ducks could be loaded into travel crates to be taken back to the rescue.

From there, Smith said her organization would work to find homes for the ducks as pets. She said ducks make good pets if the owners actually know how to care for them.

By the end of the night, the group had removed 47 ducks from the property, making it the organization's third largest rescue operation to date.

"We can treat animals a lot better than we do," Smith said. "(We can) try to make it a better place for the animals and humans together."

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