Officials to Kill Venice Ducks to Halt Virus

State and federal wildlife officials said Friday that they will kill the entire population of famed Venice canal ducks because of an outbreak of a virus that could contaminate 2.8 million wild waterfowl that traverse the Pacific Flyway each year.

The extermination plan has inflamed and divided residents of the neighborhood, whose canals date from the early 1900s. The ducks--mostly Muscovy, Pekin and mallard hybrids--are fed and loved by canal dwellers and tourists alike.

Over the protests of some residents, at 6 a.m. Monday government biologists will begin collecting the 350 remaining birds--50 have already died of duck virus enteritis--transfer them to a van and give them lethal injections of potassium chloride.

“We are people on the canals that love our ducks, and we’re willing to do what it takes to save them,” said Yolande Michael, who lives on Grand Canal. “I want them to be quarantined and brought back to the canals. I don’t want them to kill all of these ducks.”

But an organization of canal residents called Duck Watch, which keeps tabs on the health of the birds, thinks that the ducks and the few geese that live in the canals should die to save the lives of wildfowl that migrate through Southern California twice each year.

“All the birds are carriers,” said Catherine Carson, Duck Watch founder. “There is no cure. (The virus) can recur. The idea is to stop this from spreading. If one carrier duck flies into the Pacific Flyway zone, it can spread the disease and kill thousands of others.”

Michael and others who live on the canals--constructed by developer Abbott Kinney in hopes that the beachfront community would rival its Italian counterpart--contend that Duck Watch members have been relocating the birds for years because the group thinks there are too many of them.

These residents say that unlike those who belong to Duck Watch, they are the true bird lovers. They want the ducks to live and decry the speed with which the slaughter was organized.

“We feel there should be time to save some of the ducks,” said Renee Perry, who lives on Linnie Canal, where wildlife agents will set up their command post on Monday. “I don’t see any sick ducks. The ducks around my canal are fine. People are terribly upset.”

Also known as duck plague, the virus prompting the kill is a form of herpes that infects ducks, geese and swans, causing lesions on the heart, intestines and other organs. The virus causes infections that stop the heart from beating, damage the intestinal tract so that no nutrients are absorbed and create internal bleeding.

Birds can carry the disease without showing symptoms. Duck supporters want the birds to be quarantined and tested, and want only the ones that have the virus killed. But a state official questioned the feasibility of such a plan.

“(The virus) is very communicable,” said Larry Sitton, senior biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game, which is running the duck kill with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The chance of this disease getting to the wild population is great.”

Each year, an estimated 2.8 million wild waterfowl travel the Pacific Flyway, an avian highway that stretches from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Biologists say most of the birds that touch down in the Southland are making their way from Alaska to Central and South America.

The Venice outbreak is the largest to date in California and is causing one of the largest animal kills ever in Southern California, said Patrick Moore, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game.

About three weeks ago, Duck Watch members noticed large numbers of ducks--particularly the Muscovies, large white birds with distinctive red facial patches--dying in the canals. They consulted a local veterinarian, who brought in state officials.

Several of the dead ducks were shipped to the National Wildlife Disease Laboratory in Madison, Wis. State officials received positive test results on Monday and met with Venice residents Thursday night to inform them of the impending mission.