Wildlife Officials Finish Their Roundup of Venice Ducks

Invoking battles from D-Day to the Alamo, the defenders of Venice’s famed ducks had their own last stand Wednesday afternoon as wildlife officials moved into the Venice canals to finish rounding up dozens of birds believed to carry a deadly avian virus.

Workers from the state Department of Fish and Game weathered taunts and screams of protest as they slowly herded more than 60 ducks into a pen and prepared to euthanize them by injection. Much of the canal neighborhood was cordoned off, and police and game wardens stood guard to keep the two dozen protesters at bay.

The capture effectively ends a battle that began three weeks ago when wildlife officials announced plans to eradicate the entire population of about 350 Venice ducks as a way to prevent spread of the disease--called duck virus enteritis--among the millions of wild waterfowl that travel the Pacific Flyway. Before Wednesday, they had captured birds from other nearby waterways, though opposition was centered in the canal neighborhood.

Animal activists and some residents unsuccessfully fought the eradication plan in court and along the banks of the picturesque canals, arguing that the birds should be quarantined and tested first. Department officials said there is no reliable way to test live birds for the virus and no treatment.