Duck Overpopulation Has City of Eunice, Louisiana Asking Residents to Come Adopt One

EUNICE, La. (KPEL News) - Residents in Eunice have the opportunity to adopt a duck from a local park thanks to an overpopulation of waterfowl.

The Eunice Community Nature Trail and Walking Park has become overrun with ducks while the city works to improve the area. "Thinning of the flock is necessary for sanitation and erosion control purposes," the city's Duck Adoption image explains.

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The city made the announcement in a social media post last week.

KLFY's Britt Lafaso spoke to some folks who took the city up on its offer - and it wasn't easy, they said.

“Got mama a duck. She wanted a duck, so we came and got a duck,” Austin Knight said. “It took perseverance. It wasn’t easy.”

Knight, who spent three hours catching ducks at the park, even adopted a mother duck. He and his family plan to hatch and raise her babies, too.

The city recently received a $400,000 grant to rehabilitate the Nature Trail and Walking Park, they said, hence the need to clear out some of the ducks.

“The idea of 'adopt a duck' was simply to try to allow the community to get the ducks they really cherish because they’re here every day feeding them. Rather than us calling in someone in to eradicate them, this gives the community a chance to come get the ducks they’ve been feeding all this time,” Robert Johnson, the Eunice Recreation Director, told KLFY.

And, no, they don't expect anyone to take them home and eat them.

The good news, however, is that writing this post gives me the opportunity to get one of my favorite songs from the 90s stuck in your heads, dearest readers.

Now, who wants to go catch a duck?