Ducks
Feeding the ducks can be a lovely experience – especially for young children.
- Bread makes us ill, as it does not contain the right nutrition or calories that we need to keep us warm in winter.
- Rotting bread pollutes our water and causes nasty surface algae, which kills our fish and gives us diseases. It also makes our water smell.
The amount of waste food that is left lying around on the pavements near the Town Mills area of the Anton river is becoming an eyesore and a health hazard. We have sought advice from wildlife experts who tell us that although it may seem like a kind thing to do, feeding bread to ducks can actually be potentially dangerous for them. Bread is the equivalent of junk food for birds and, just as with humans, too much of it can lead to weight gain and malnutrition.
We are running a campaign to try and encourage people not to feed the ducks as the rotting food can trigger noxious odours and fuel algae that can eventually eradicate fish from the area, as well as attracting rats, mice and insects.
Signs are being displayed in the river frontage area around Town Mills asking people not to feed bread to the ducks.
![A duck with angel wing By Tony Alter from Newport News, USA (I Like This Duck Uploaded by theveravee) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](/images_gallery/full-event-testvalley/5746/Mallard%20Duck%20Angel%20Wing.jpg)
