Killing of Ducks Has Claremont Police Puzzled, Without a Suspect

For Claremont police, the events that transpired at a decorative duck pond outside a popular complex of retail outlets and restaurants remain a troubling puzzle.

No one has been arrested. And police say they are not even sure if a crime was committed at Griswold’s School House on Foothill Boulevard. But this much is certain: Fifteen to 20 ducks, many of them mallards, were apparently killed last Friday by two men armed with a pellet gun and a baseball bat.

Police Cmdr. Richard A. Mellem said Wednesday the incident that left a trail of blood, feathers and battered dead ducks sprang from a misunderstanding that grew out of the desire to reduce overcrowding in the pond.

$500 Reward Offered

Now, the local humane society is upset, a state game warden has been asked to investigate, the district attorney’s office has been asked to determine if any laws were broken and a $500 reward has been offered for information leading to the culprits.

The incident began about 12:30 a.m. Friday when a merchant in one of the shops called police to complain of two men disturbing the peace. Police found two men outside, but no evidence of anything unusual at the pond, which is home for dozens of ducks who live amid the upscale shops, restaurants and parking lots at Griswold’s, which used to be a high school.

Later, after the two men had gone, police discovered blood and feathers around the pond. Dead ducks had been hidden under landscaping. And a baseball bat, covered with blood and feathers, had been discarded in a trash can.

Jeff Steinbach, whom police described as the manager at Griswold’s School House, told police that Griswold’s periodically has to cope with overcrowding at the pond and that he had enlisted the help of a gardener.

The gardener, police said, had engaged the services of two friends who did not follow the usual practice of capturing the ducks, transporting them to the wild and releasing them.

Some of the ducks, Mellem said, “were hit so hard that it knocked their heads off. But at no time did the management at Griswold’s complex indicate to these people to go out and destroy the ducks.”

Steinbach could not be reached for comment.

Mellem said he checked with state game officials who told him that domesticated ducks are not a protected species.

Cruelty to Animals

But Bill Harford, executive director of the Pomona Valley Humane Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, believes that the crime of cruelty to animals may have occurred.

Ken Walton, a game warden for the state Department of Fish and Game, said he is concerned that officials may never be able to locate the culprits. Beyond that, he said, there is little evidence. “All I have now is the picture of the (dead) ducks,” he said.

Nonetheless, Harford “still wants to know what actually happened. I want to be able to look in the eye the people who are outraged and give a full account of what happened. There are people who feel what happened was brutal.”