People feeding ducks bread?

[dannyboyle]

Ok first aibu?

Daughters and I often go to the local park to playground, but also feed the ducks at the lake. There are always people feeding ducks bread and not just small pieces, but throwing wholes slices.

Now I would hope most people know that bread is not good food for ducks and that they really should not be giving them it. There are plenty of things they can have and I go out of my way to get proper wild bird feed as suggested by local authority.

So to the aibu. In the last couple of weeks I have tried to kindly point out to people that what they are doing is not helpful and not teaching their children anything helpful ( 1 said thank you, the other two told me to mind my own ...... business!) Should I let people be (potentially in ignorance and damaging health of birds) or do I say something????

Some people think animal welfare is their business. Fortunately.

Small amounts of brown bread won't be harmful - the problem is in parks its often lots of people bringing lots of white. There's a pond in a park near us where the bins are usually full of bread wrappers.

The rats smell it.... Long after it's been eaten. Bits will linger

one of the council owned parks near me has a reception area where you can buy feed but it doesn't actually have any signs up explaining that it is better for the ducks than bread. Loads of people like me, until five mins ago simply have no idea.

Rats can be an issue if there is an excess of bread left around. My neighbour has been repeatedly told by the council pest control man not to put out half a loaf of white in her garden... but she likes feeding the little birds ... so we've got rats living in our garden and can't put out proper food for the birds any more.

On park ponds the bread will be likely to attract seagulls which most people don't really want in towns.

I would welcome being politely told that a behaviour I was doing is harmful. Had no idea bread wasnt good for ducks

Wherever there is water, there will be rats.

YABU to expect people to know bread is not good for ducks.

In the last couple of weeks I have tried to kindly point out to people that what they are doing is not helpful and not teaching their children anything helpful

YABU. If you said the above to me, I would think you rude and patronising.

What's the difference between a duck and a rat in terms of animal welfare.

Rats are animals too.

Ducks don't (afaik) spread diseases such as leptospirosis.

Will someone please think of the ducks

I have never know anyone to have been infected by a rat.

I give our ducks seeded batch granary from waitrose. Is that ok?

I buy bird seed from the cafe in our local park but the bloody fucks refuse to eat it! Only the pidgeons and occasionally the squirrels are interested.

Ducks* usually that autocorrect works the other way round!

I see no-one is considering the bread's feelings in all of this bloody monsters, the lot of you

You are right that bread is bad for ducks. Bread has almost no nutrients that are useful for the duck, so they become malnourished and more susceptible to disease. Compounding the problem is excessive bread in the water, which breeds bacteria. However, individually approaching people might make them defensive and argumentative, try asking the park if they could put up signs to make people aware.

YANBU

Recently DP and I went for a trip to a hotel/pub/restaurant place for a couple of night's break, and they actually sold 'Duck Food' , mainly for kids and it consisted of bread that the pub/restaurant hadn't used up. All dead jolly and a good idea in theory, but really-bread isn't good for ducks and I think leisure establishments should emphasise that rather than encourage people to do it.

Ducks and other waterfowl cannot live on bread alone but I've checked with swan rescue and it won't do them any harm either if they eat it from the water. Eating it dry then having a drink afterwards can cause problems as it swells up when wet. My friends at swan rescue have sometimes used it to coax birds and they should know.

Depending on how much of a waterfowl lover you are there are a variety of foods available. Swans love mixed corn (not so sure about ducks) and there are floating swan/duck foods which make me very popular with the local waterfowl.

I've never heard of this before. Everyday is a school day on MN.

Bakewell have signs by the river saying do not feed the birds as it can cause them to fight which has led to serious injury (and death) in the past.

Round the corner there is a shop selling.... you guessed it... bread for ducks.

I have never know anyone to have been infected by a rat.
Oh, that's all right then.

Weils disease is rare now, but can be [[http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/26/weils-disease-andy-holmes fatal], and dogs have to be immunised against it. Its something that people who do any sort of watersports on freshwater need to be aware of. It's just one of the diseases rats can carry.

I buy bird seed from the cafe in our local park but the bloody fucks refuse to eat it!

that's another problem with bread - wildfowl like junk food too, so if they're getting lots of bread they will eat it rather than more nutritious food. If you go to somewhere like a WWT place, you'll see lots of wildfowl eating the wheat they sell - but if someone brings in bread then that will attract more.

Ducks are interested in anything but bread where we are! Must be like chocolate to them.

Errol, the poster corrected the rats-infection comment 2 posts later.

Ducks around here don't get much bread, the swans get to it first.

All the birds can fly & look pretty bonny, so I think their consumption levels are within safe thresholds.

Depends how you said it of course, but it's not really unreasonable to assume that if people care enough to feed a wild animal they might like to know if they are potentially causing illness and deformities. Our local park used to have slicks of mouldy bread in the corners of the ponds. That can't be healthy.

There are signs up in our park, saying how bread is bad for ducks, and to feed them seeds instead.

People still throw bread in...

Good idea from PP though, I will see if I can get our park cafeto sell little bird feeding packs!

(And yes, it's a first world problem. No, there are no dead ducks floating around due to the bread feeding - what a ridiculous argument! )