Is it ok for kids to chase ducks?

The geese at work were Canadian and actually quite timid but massive poopers. I think they’d come at dusk / dawn normally. Never had an issue chasing off seagulls but Im sure plenty of people have thought wtf as child launches themselves out of seat and runs around picnic table shouting and madly flapping arms.

Its enough to scatter them for a minute and then they creep closer. They are sneaky though one scared my daughter into dropping her fish and chips. So I stupidly re wrapped mines and put it on a low wall next to us then as I picked up hers to put in bin so as not to encourage the birds. It took seconds but they’d ripped it open and made off with my dinner.

I was gutted.

I can’t believe parents who think it’s fine for a child to chase animals at all.

Of course it’s not okay, it’s never okay. And if an animal turns on that child and bites then it’ll be the animals fault.

Check yourself OP, never okay to chase any animals.

Eh?

I don’t think there’s a humane way to raise and kill animals. Agree to disagree 🤷‍♀️

So causing distress to animals is ok sometimes

Ffs what is wrong with people? No it's not OK to allow children to chase wild animals. You are teaching them that it's fine to cause stress and potential injury to a sentient animal. Stress exacerbates any underlying health issues in wildlife, chasing can cause injury as the birds scatter in panic and any young could be separated from mum in the process.

I have and will continue to point this out politely to children I see chasing animals. Because I care more about the welfare of the animals than what an entitled parent thinks of me.

Chasing animals and potentially causing them distress shows a complete lack of empathy - and a complete lack of parenting. It's different if a dog wants to play chase with some toys of course.

I thought pigeons carried a lot of nasty diseases so I thought that was why they were shooed away. Ducks, spiders and other harmless wildlife obviously not but I think this is where the thinking around pigeons comes from. You get spikes to discourage pigeons in cities as their poo is so toxic. I haven't seen ducks being chased, but pigeons yes

These birds are not toys. No you should not chase them.

Wow. Surely you don't genuinely believe animals aren't capable of experiencing distress and fear? Have you ever interacted with an animal in any way??

Yes it’s wrong to let children chase wild animals - just as it’s wrong to let your dog do it, Mrs Jones.

Even my dogs know better.

Yes, you should. Terrible parenting.

Of course it’s wrong! In the last few weeks, I’ve seen children chase ducks and swans (and yes, I did wish the swan defended itself), gulls and, shockingly, one who tried to stamp on pigeons while his fuckwitted parents walked along behind.

I recall my DB agreed about 5 or 6, was bitten by a local duck (just mallard) but it bloody hurt him.

We used to chase pigeons but were only scared of Canada geese and swans.

Completely false equivalence. Even if they eat meat, most people still support cruelty free, humane rearing and slaughter of animals. Chasing an animal around and causing it a great deal of unnecessary stress, just for your own fun, is not even a comparison.

Of course it's not okay. Poor parenting for an easy life in the short term; otherwise, they'd have to engage with and redirect their children's energy and they clearly couldn't be arsed.

We have to deal with such children and parents in classrooms. It sucks.

No.

HTH.

It’s not ok it’s cruel. Last time this happened we were in a local big park very popular with wildlife, ducks and geese.

When you see the baby ducklings, goslings and even baby herons it’s cute. Squirrels are very tame there too. One side has a dogs allowed, the other is no dogs allowed.

I’m always surprised that the very popular cafe there doesn’t sell duck and geese food as bread isn’t good for them.

The posts calling out hypocrisy annoy me. Fair enough if you think people shouldn't eat meat but surely you don't think the people picking up some minced beef from Tesco to make a chilli con carne on a lazy Sunday are the same as people who torture kittens for fun?

You can think they're both bad but surely you can see there's different levels?

And it's the same with this. We are not talking about eating duck. We are talking about people causing stress to animals for fun and encouraging their children to.

The idea that the ducks might enjoy it is laughable. They fly away in fear of their lives. They come back because it's their home, source of food etc.

For someone to enjoy making something feel fear and stress is concerning to me. Shooing off seagulls who are trying to fly down and eat the food from your hands is different. It's trying to protect your food and your fingers and it's scary being repeatedly flown at.

I would even understand someone being frightened of ducks and trying to shoo them away from the immediate space.

Again fair enough to still think all of these are wrong but chasing a duck around a lake is completely different because there is no benefit to you except that you enjoy a living thing being scared of you.

Although I don't think kids chasing ducks is very nice, ducks have wings and can swim, and if they are annoyed enough then they will generally go somewhere else. Unless you are attacking the nests, and then you may get a nasty shock as they will probably come back at you.

I was walking around a lake the other day and some people were letting their young child get very close to a swan, which was probably interested in food. She wasn't chasing it, but getting very close to a bird of that size is inadvisable. They can do some damage.

I left them to it. Recreational Darwinism and all that.

This thread has made me smile because I actually had to chase my neighbours ducks back to their garden this morning. They were most aggrieved.

Yes you should.

Not ok. I don't allow my children to be unkind to any living creature and I tell off other children for chasing birds if their own parents are shit.

I don't allow or encourage my children to chase animals, but I can't really get worked up about kids chasing pigeons in the playground tbh. It's a fenced area and the pigeons are free to leave if they don't like it.

What usually happens is this -

• Small toddler chases pigeon.
• Pigeon flies out of the playground.
• Small toddler stops, looking disappointed.
• Pigeon flies back, within toddler's eye line.
• Small toddler starts chasing pigeon again.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that the pigeon was deliberately baiting the toddler.

As for seagulls, they are absolute arseholes! I wouldn't let my DC chase them for safely reasons - they're mean bastards - but I'm certainly not shedding any tears if anyone else gives them what for. This summer alone, we've lost a cake, two Cornish pasties and a croissant to the buggers and they've terrified my toddler on at least two occasions. If they weren't protected, I'd probably be investing in a sling-shot myself!

That's where you're wrong, animals don't have feelings just like humans do. Still don't think chasing pigeons/ ducks should be encouraged but it's not quite the same as chasing a human with a machte.