Muscovy lovers fight federal agency
Tobi Kosanke is concerned about the Muscovy duck being added to the List of Migratory Birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act .
On one side was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a lumbering bureaucracy out to curb the spread of a pesky fowl; on the other, thousands of duck lovers, breeders and pet owners who feared for their flocks. Like forces of nature, inexorably they moved toward collision.
When the crisis hit three weeks ago in the form of new regulations for Muscovy ducks, the outcry was instant and stunning, at least by duck aficionado subculture standards.
Krazy K Farm Resident Muscovy Ducks Land in Government's Foul Territory,β cried the headline on a news release distributed by Hempstead farm owner Tobi Kosanke.
βWe were blind-sided,β declared American Poultry Association chief Sam Brush.
βNone of us had a clue this was coming down the road,β sighed James Konecny, president of the International Waterfowl Breeders Association.
At the dispute's heart was the wildlife agency's finding that the Muscovy ducks β a blue-eyed breed native to Mexico and South America β had extended its range into three counties in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, and, therefore, could be considered migratory birds.
Removal order
With that ruling came an order authorizing landowners and others to remove the birds and their eggs β killing them was one option β from any place in the U.S. outside the designated Texas counties. People who owned such ducks for any purpose other than meat production were barred from breeding them. Releasing them into the wild also was banned.
Duck fanciers were outraged. Muscovies widely are bred for show purposes β the breed was officially recognized as early as 1874 β said Brush, a Fort Worth-area resident whose organization oversees poultry competitions. The ducks also have been bred as pets for centuries.
Kosanke said her flock of 40 ducks roam her 35-acre farm eating mosquitoes, flies, mice and other pests. In addition, they produced prized free-range eggs that Kosanke sells for a premium.
βOur lives are ruled by ducks,β she said, βand we like it that way.β
The new federal regulations, she charged, put her flock βin the government's cross-hairs.β
Kosanke urged supporters to sign a pro-Muscovy petition. As duck lovers' protests flooded the agency, Konecny's group joined the fray.
βWe made a pitch to get the ruling reversed or rewritten,β said Konecny, who lives near Chicago. βIt was extreme. It did more harm that good.β
George Allen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service branch chief who researched, then wrote, the regulations, said his agency was bound by international treaty to declare the ducks migratory once their permanent residence in the Rio Grande Valley had been established. Unlike many commonly hunted breeds on the migratory list, Muscovies do not make seasonal transcontinenal migrations.
Changing the rules
When the proposed rules were published in the Federal Register, they brought only 10 responses, mostly from people in Texas and Florida who complained that Muscovy colonies were a bane both to humans and wildlife by virtue of their aggressiveness and messiness. Such colonies, were subject to removal even before the agency's ruling, he said.
Allen, who specializes in wild species, had no knowledge that the ducks were a revered show bird, nor that some owners β such as Kosanke β consider them the ideal domestic pet, displaying characteristics of both cats and dogs.
Duck lovers, it turned out, typically were not Federal Register readers.
βWe didn't know about them. They didn't know about us,β said Konecny. βIt was like two worlds apart suddenly coming together.β
What happened next surprised just about everyone. Eyeball to eyeball with the nation's duck establishment, the federal government blinked.
Almost as soon as the new regulations became effective, the part most onerous to Muscovy lovers β the ban on breeding β was put on hold. βI'm working at revising my revisions,β Allen conceded this week.
Allen said the rulings' latest incarnation, which likely will appear in the Federal Register in about four months, will retain the designation of Muscovies as migratory birds, the provision for their removal and the ban on releasing them into the wild.
But, he said, the breeding ban will be lifted.
βWe found they were pretty generous,β Kopecny said of his group's encounter with the regulators. βI was impressed.β
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