Ducks Die Suddenly at Orlando Pond as Resident Suspects Poisoning

Dozens of ducks have been found dead or dying at a small pond near Science Drive and Technology Parkway in Orlando, alarming residents and drawing attention from local officials, according to FOX 35 Orlando.

Sarah Tinch, a FOX 35 viewer who stops by the pond every day, said she noticed something was seriously wrong earlier this week. Ducks she saw looking fine on Tuesday were dead or close to it by Wednesday. She found one already dead and another floating in the water, moving its head erratically. She picked up the second bird and headed to an emergency veterinary hospital on Lake Underhill Road, but it died on the way.

Tinch said conditions seemed to return to normal on Thursday, but more ducks were found dead on Friday morning. A FOX 35 reporter, Hannah Mackenzie, visited the pond and saw one dead duck and two others apparently fighting to survive. One was thrashing its head back and forth to stay afloat, and the other was half submerged on the bank. The affected birds are Muscovy ducks, and the pond is also littered with trash and debris.

Tinch believes someone is poisoning the birds. "I know they're not a native species, but it's illegal to poison any duck," she said. Other wild bird species also live at the pond, and she has not seen problems among them. The cause of the deaths has not been confirmed.

Tinch said she contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to report what she had found. According to her, the person who answered said the agency could not help and pointed her to the EPA. FWC later told FOX 35 it was aware of the reports and was working to gather more information. It had not responded further before the story was published.

Property records from the Orange County Property Appraiser show the land is owned by United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida Inc, which operates UCP Charter Schools. A representative of Central Florida Research Park told FOX 35 the park maintains the pond because it holds a water easement there.

Joe Wallace, the research park's executive director, said he was unaware of the duck deaths and had no idea why the birds were dying. He said the pond is cleaned about once a month and that a local company treats it for aquatic weeds. Wallace attributed the increase in trash to a rise in the number of homeless people in the area.

FOX 35 also asked UCP Charter Schools whether security cameras on its campus might have captured any activity at the pond. The school had not answered as of publication.

Tinch said she plans to keep trying to save the surviving ducks. She said she will pay out of her own pocket to have sick animals treated if she finds any still alive after work, but argued that an agency should be handling the wildlife. "I'm just trying to get some help for those ducks," she said.