When I was 15, my Aunt Juanita gave me a duckling as a present. I quickly fell in love with the little duck as it grew into a beautiful white Pekin that I christened ‘Donald.? Soon, we acquired two more ducks for Donald to have as friends.
Donald and his aquatic buddies would waddle around the yard, frolic in a toddler’s pool that I’d fill with water and would absolutely love it when I sprayed water on them. They’d flap their wings, soak up the fine mist of water and almost look like they were smiling. I guess when you’re a duck in the dry, hot South Texas summers, water is especially appreciated.
Eventually, we gave the ducks away to someone who had a pond on their property and–presumably–wasn’t going to turn them into a Christmas dinner.
Even now, 21 years later, I still very much love ducks and count them as my favorite animal. It’s fun to watch them in the water and listen to them quack and fun to let them nibble on your fingers as you feed them.
Knowing my love for these aquatic birds, my family often gets me duck items for Christmas and my birthday. My brother-in-law once got me a brass duck figurine. My wife has given me prints of paintings of ducks. My Uncle Jerry and Aunt Joyce, who live in Oregon, even gave me a University of Oregon t-shirt and mouse pad. The mascot, of course, is a duck. Some have even joked my favorite National Hockey League team would be the Anaheim Ducks and that my favorite Looney Tunes character is Daffy Duck.
I also own a few clothing items from Ducks Unlimited and have gone to their site to learn more about ducks and find out about conservation efforts.
Not only do I love ducks as animals and like to collect them, I also refuse to eat them. This can be unsettling if you ever walk through San Francisco’s Chinatown and look at what’s hanging in the window, as ducks are a popular food in China. Two Thanksgivings ago, my father-in-law tried unsuccessfully to get me to eat duck. No, I’m not a vegetarian, I just think ducks look too cute and adorable to eat.
And now, I’d like to take my love for ducks to a whole new level.
In November 2006, Michigan voters defeated a referendum that would’ve allowed people to hunt mourning doves. Now that mourning doves still have little reason to mourn since they can’t legally be hunted in Michigan, I wonder if we might extend the same courtesy to ducks.
Think about it. The Great Lakes State could be a safe haven for ducks. They could be free to waddle, quack, swim in the water and fly gracefully through the air without having to worry about being gunned down by cruel, merciless, heartless, evil hunters who should instead hunt turkeys or just chow down at KFC. Before long, we’d have lots and lots of ducks in our state, from Mallards to Pekins to Teal and to Muscovies.
Perhaps a state-wide ban would be asking too much too soon, since Michiganders love to go out and murder…er, hunt ducks and those who wish to repeal the Second Amendment.
What I plan to do, instead, is start a petition to ban duck hunting locally.
Specifically, I’m hoping to gather signatures from people in Oxford Village, Oxford Township, Addison Township, Leonard and Lakeville. The petition would put a proposal on the November ballot that would ban duck hunting in this area of Michigan. In the boundaries of Northern Oakland County, shooting ducks would become illegal. Oxford would become a safe haven for ducks.
Besides, it’s so much more pleasurable to shoot ducks with a camera instead of with a 20-gauge shotgun.
In the next month or so, I’m going to go around the area with my petition and encourage you to sign it and join me in the fight to ban the merciless slaughter of ducks in Oxford. If we get enough signatures, we can get a vote. And if we can get a vote, we can make Oxford a duck sanctuary.
(Oh, by the way, Happy April Fool’s Day!)