Fake Fowl No Harm--Redondo OKs Ducky Derby Fund-Raiser

A flap over what impact rubber ducks could have on Santa Monica Bay ended peacefully Tuesday night when Redondo Beach City Council members voted to allow a duck derby fund-raiser to proceed as planned.

The June 29 fund-raiser, which will involve dumping up to 20,000 of the little yellow tub toys in the ocean near the Redondo Beach Pier, had ruffled some environmental feathers last week.

Plans call for the coastal cities unit of the American Cancer Society to collect donations for each numbered duck before the flock is set afloat. In return, the first ducks to bob ashore will win their sponsors a prize, ranging from exotic trips to appliances and new cars.

The City Council at first approved the project without a fuss. But local conservationists objected, warning that a passing marine mammal might try to ingest the fake fowl or that the bobbing toys might escape to become clumps of yellow coastline trash.

But after assurances that the ducks would be safely herded inside giant floating oil booms, one of the leading critics, Councilman Terry Ward, switched sides midstream. Ward now plans to act as the event’s retrieval/cleanup chairman, said Nathan Nusbaum, director of development for the American Cancer Society’s local unit.

“We’re on track and we’re getting our ducks lined up in a row,” Nusbaum said. “Because of this controversy, we’re already getting calls from people wanting to sponsor ducks.”

If the event is successful, Nusbaum said, the rubber creatures may make an annual migration to Redondo Beach’s shore.

“I guess we have a ducky conclusion to the whole story,” he said.