Posted on 11/14/2019 2:42:53 AM PST by Viking2002
PEARLAND, Texas (CBS Local) — Muscovy ducks are taking over a town in Texas and residents are now being encouraged to trap or even shoot them in some cases.
The City of Pearland is allowing landowners and homeowner’s associations (HOAs) to “address the ducks as seen fit, and within legal parameters, by the HOA or the landowner.”
Pearland is designated as a bird sanctuary city but the Muscovy duck is considered an invasive species from Central and South America and are therefore not protected.
“From the reports that we’ve heard, (the ducks) tend to be aggressive on properties and they push other species out and different things like that,” city spokesman Joshua Lee told KTRK.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.cbslocal.com ...
I’m a native of New Orleans, and still live in southeast Louisiana. Originally imported from South America, nutria have been a problem ever since being released in the early 1900s. They are prolific breeders, and eat vegetation voraciously, including the roots. They also burrow into levees and canal banks, causing erosion and weakening.
While they are a concern wherever they go, Louisiana has been hit the hardest. Back in the 1990s our nutria problem made national news, as local authorities considered various ways of controlling them. One of the most successful methods was done in Jefferson Parish by then sheriff Harry Lee. He assigned deputies to hunt the nutria with .22 caliber rifles. This was safe and humane, without any collateral damage which would result from poisons or traps. It also allowed his deputies to hone their marksmanship skills.
Around the same time some restaurants tried introducing nutria meat to their menus, calling it “marsh rabbit.” That was not successful. One company announced that it had signed a trade deal with China to export millions of pounds of nutria meat, but I believe that fell through. I also think an attempt was made to market nutria fur, also without success.
Back then I was a volunteer staff diver at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, something I did for 20 years. Another volunteer there was a colorful Cajun fellow named Art. Among other things, he had been a licensed alligator trapper, and wore a huge alligator tooth on a necklace. In 1996 I happened to turn on an evening news magazine show, and they were covering the nutria story, including how Jefferson Parish was dealing with them. The reporter then brought in a local expert, and it was none other than Art! I sat and watched him give his informed opinions, and humorous stories, right there on national television.
Occasionally we would have continuing education events at the Aquarium, which were done as potluck dinners. Art and I attended these often. On two occasions he brought dishes cooked with nutria meat. One was a stew, the other a gumbo. I ate both, and was stunned at how delicious it was. Unlike some other wild game, it had no gamey flavor whatsoever. It was very lean, and literally tasted like chicken. I’m actually surprised that it never took off as a food source, but I suppose it’s because many people can’t get over the animal’s resemblance to a rat. (Yet people eat snails and raw oysters, go figure...)
Cannibal: Delicious.
Right turn Clyde...
Turducken.
“How was that comedian you devoured last night?”
“I dunno...tasted funny.”
Not off-hand but I am having chianti and fava beans for dinner....
Oh I will!
L
It’s nice that they call themselves a bird sanctuary city, I guess, but all native birds are protected by law, and many by international treaty. Invasives can be killed at will, as far as I’m concerned. Starlings, English “sparrows,” park pigeons.... The ducks are at least worth eating.
Sounds like Ed Zern.
Is F&S any good, these days?
Rabbits and hares aren’t rodents. They’re Lagomorphs. Just sayin’.
Rabbits aren’t rodents, and you need to look up “genus.”
You’re correct. Common misconception.
Nutria tastes good too.
In 1973 I worked for the parks department in the city of Maitland, Florida. The muscovies were a pain then. We had people calling and asking us to collect them and get them out of their yards and the streets. They would get on people’s porches and cover them with crap.
Picture a bunch of long-haired hippies like us trying to catch a bunch of those stupid ducks. It was pretty funny.
They would get in the road and wouldn’t move. One old lady said just run over them why don’t you?
An adult community near our coastal New Jersey town is heavily infested with- get ready for this- wild turkeys. Aggressive wild turkeys. The plan is to trap and relocate them.
Volunteers offering to harvest them are not welcome. Could be feedin’ the hungry, y’know?
I'm from Delaware, where our equivalent of alien invader birds is Canada geese (click here). Thousands and thousands that wouldn't know it if their wings was clipped. They just hang around, summer or winter. It's flatter here in mid and lower counties, like OhiO or Iowa. Lots of corn and beans grown here that they can steal to make 'em fat. Between them and the pesky deer that you can't shoot, there's not much left over for the Mexican mushroom workers, Dominican chicken-packers, and woodchucks (they are called "ground-hogs" here) to eat. (/sarc)
And, for the record, I do have several endorsements and am on the pro staff of a handful of manufacturers and outfitters who would not only fire me, but possibly sneak up on my house and kill my cats if they knew how I voiced my opinon. So let's keep this among ourselves.
*drool* Turducken. Cajun sausage stuffing. The last one I had was a culinary orgasm. I’ll bring a copious mount of beer and wine. I’ll help in the kitchen. I’ll wash the dishes. Bring it.
ROFL!!!
What, no Solunar tables? A look at the barometer shows that it came up, overnight, but a cold front has settled in. So, I’ll stay home and tend the smoker, and wait for better weather to return to the lake. There’s a fish in there that owes me a pink Rooster Tail, and I aim to take it back.
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