ENCINO : Resident to Install ‘Duck Crossing’ Signs

Two animal lovers are crying “fowl” over the city’s refusal to erect a stop sign on a street where the animal advocates say several ducks have been killed by speeding cars.

Taking matters into her own hands, Encino resident Kathryn (Aria) Jaeger said she has ordered “duck crossing” signs from a private sign maker that she will have installed along Moorpark Street between Balboa Boulevard and Petit Avenue.

“I think it’ll make a little bit of a difference,” Jaeger said. “I don’t think it’s a cure-all.”

Jaeger and part-time Encino resident Gaye Brown said that Los Angeles transportation engineer Raymond Wellbaum told them that the city will not install stop signs on Moorpark Street where it intersects with La Maida Street, as they had requested, because the traffic flow and infrequency of accidents there do not warrant the signs.

Wellbaum was not available for comment Monday.

According to Brown, Wellbaum said that traffic statistics do not warrant speed bumps either and that the problem must be solved by law enforcement.

Nearly a month ago, Jaeger and nine neighbors held a funeral for Millie the duck on Jaeger’s front lawn to publicize the problem of speeding drivers. Eleven animals--five ducks and six squirrels--have been struck and killed by cars in the past few months, according to Jaeger.

But Los Angeles animal control officials said it is residents feeding the ducks that is putting their feathered friends in harm’s way. Ducks that would normally stay in the nearby Los Encinos State Historic Park or Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area are instead loitering on a suburban street.

A similar view was taken by Judith Hirshberg, deputy to Councilman Marvin Braude, to whom Jaeger has appealed for help. Driving down Moorpark recently, Hirshberg said she saw people standing in the street, feeding ducks.

“I love the ducks in the ponds, in the lakes and in the parks, but the people are not doing them a favor by giving them food in the middle of the road,” she said.