MARYLAND -- A Hagerstown woman said the mallard duck she raised from an egg was confiscated earlier this week by the Humane Society of Washington County, and she is fighting to get "Quackers" back.
But a wildlife official said federal law requires the duck to either be released into the wild or euthanized.
Renee Shoemaker of McDowell Avenue said an officer with the society took Quackers after she called to report a neighborhood dog had attacked the duck and, in the process of defending the waterfowl, she was bitten.
She said the owners of the dog were ordered to quarantine it in their home for 10 days, but then the animal control officer's attention turned to Quackers.
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| Quackers the pet duck |
"They said, 'You're not allowed to have a duck in city limits,'" Shoemaker said.
However, she contends that she raised the duck from an egg, and "there's not a wild feather on his body."
"I was holding him and crying when they came up to take him," Shoemaker said.
The officer put Quackers in a cage, she said.
When she went to see Quackers at the Humane Society the following day, Shoemaker said she was told the duck had been sent to "rehab."
Crystal Mowery, a rehabilitator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, confirmed Wednesday that the duck was handed over by animal control officers to her custody and is being assessed to determine whether it can be returned to the wild.
Hagerstown police who responded to the incident also informed Shoemaker that it is against city and county ordinances to have wild or exotic animals, she said.
"Her original story was that it was a wild duck," Mowery said of what Shoemaker reportedly told animal control officers.
"They call him the 'Mayor of McDowell,' " Shoemaker said of Quackers, whom she said was never caged and had the run of the neighborhood, with people often coming by to visit and feed him.
She worries the duck would prove easy prey if let loose in the wild.
Shoemaker said she has a permit from the Maryland Department of Agriculture to have a mallard duck.
She had hatched Quackers along with domestic chicken eggs, and city officials told her a few years ago she had to get rid of the chickens, but were unconcerned with the duck, because it was essentially free to leave at any time, Shoemaker said.
The permit Shoemaker is referring to is a registration with the state to possess poultry, Mowery said.
"She registered poultry with the state, but you still have to go by your local ordinances," she said.
Appeal hearing set
The county's animal control ordinance states: "No Person may own, sell, exhibit, barter, possess, or harbor any Exotic Animal or Wild Animal in the County without first obtaining permits required by state or federal law."
County officials can "without prior notice to any Owner, impound from public or private property an animal not permitted in the County," under the ordinance.
The ordinance also states that the animal shall be kept for up to 10 days to give the owner an opportunity to arrange for legal removal of the animal from the county.
The removal of the animal can be appealed to the Animal Control Authority, a body of five volunteers that include an attorney, a veterinarian or veterinary technician, a law-enforcement officer, a member of the farm community and an at-large member, according to the ordinance.
Shoemaker said she has filed an appeal and is scheduled for a hearing before the authority at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, in the Washington County Administration Building.
However, local and state laws are usually trumped by federal laws and regulations. In this case, Mowery said federal law regarding wild ducks would prevail over any local or state statutes.
Although she is a rehabilitator, Mowery said that if a bird cannot be reintroduced to the wild, not even she can keep it, and it must be euthanized.
Quackers essentially lived as a wild duck, wandering the neighborhood as it pleased, Shoemaker said. She is seeking that it be returned, not specifically to her, but to the neighborhood.
"He came and went as he pleased. There were no restrictions on him," she said.
(Herald-Mail Media - Jun 6, 2014)
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