Dart a pain in the neck for wild duck

COEUR d'ALENE - It was an unlikely place to find a pair of mallard ducks waddling around on a Friday morning.

But there they were, in the employee parking lot behind the downtown Coeur d'Alene Press building on the corner of Second and Lakeside.

Press workers quickly noticed something wasn't right with the colorful male bird.

Protruding from the side of the animal's neck, the employees observed what appeared to be a long needle with a plastic cap on the end.

"We immediately thought it must be some sort of tracking device," said Press business office employee Angie Abbott.

While another Press staffer went inside the building to call the Coeur d'Alene office of Idaho Fish and Game, Abbott waited in the parking lot with the birds.

"They were very friendly," Abbott said.

The call to Fish and Game revealed that the agency had received other calls about a duck with a blow dart sticking from its neck. The wounded mallard had been seen previously on the beach near North Idaho College.

"I felt very sad for the duck, disgusted that someone would hurt an animal like that," Abbott said. "It's animal cruelty."

The pair of fowl had approached the employees with what Abbott and others described as a sense of urgency, something other than that of hungry birds looking for food.

"They just came right up to us like they wanted help," Abbott said.

For nearly an hour, the hen appeared animated, quacking as it darted back and forth between its slower-moving wounded mate, and the humans observing it.

Fish and Game employees Wayne Wakkinen and Dave Spicer responded to The Press parking lot, with a net and a cage in their truck.

The plan was to capture the duck, and then take it elsewhere to have the dart removed.

Because the dart has remained embedded in the mallard's neck, Wakkinen said it's likely the needle has barbs on the end, so removing the dart might be tricky.

The male duck appeared calm around the men and Press employees, until Wakkinen slowly approached it with the net.

After nearly an hour spent very close to humans, the bird suddenly took flight, and headed toward Lake Coeur d'Alene, disappearing from sight as it flew over Independence Point.

"With his reaction to that net, I think people have tried to catch him with a net before," Wakkinen said. "He was calm with people and that changed as soon as he saw that net."

Wakkinen said if other people encounter the wounded mallard, they can call the Fish and Game office, 769-1414, for assistance. Or, they can try to remove the dart on their own. It's not dangerous, Wakkinen said, and then smiled, warning that an attempt might generate a lot of duck poop.

Craig Walker, Fish and Game regional conservation officer, tasked with supervising the agency's enforcement activities in the Panhandle region, said shooting a duck with a blowgun at this time of year is illegal.

"It's an attempt to take wildlife unlawfully," Walker said. "This is a wild duck, so it's subject to being hunted. We have seasons set up for waterfowl hunting, and of course, they're in the fall."

If caught targeting wild birds with a blowgun at this time of year, a person faces being charged with a misdemeanor crime. It carries a fine of $25 to $1,000, and a judge could also add up to three years revocation of hunting license privileges.

But Walker said the hunting penalty probably won't matter much to the type of person he thinks is responsible for wounding the downtown mallard.

"Generally, it's a kid with a new blowgun. Obviously, it's not a malicious act to end all ducks," Walker said. "I think it was a handy target, and obviously it was a stupid thing to do."

Black Sheep Sporting Goods doesn't sell blowguns, said company spokesman, Brian Knoll.

The company, in business for 35 years, refrains from selling certain items, Knoll said, because they carry with them greater potential for misuse. Blowguns are on that list.

"The percentage of people that might misuse it is just too high," Knoll said.