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points of the discussion. We know the Leeper Park Duck Pond is pretty beloved. We have <br /> probably all fed ducks there at some point in time in our lives, I know I have and I have great <br /> memories of that. But the way we have come to appreciate and learn about these animals and <br /> what environments they thrive or do not thrive in, has evolved. This is much like how our zoos <br /> and aquariums have evolved with their thinking of how they treat animals and what kind of <br /> enclosures are used. At the end of the day,this type of environment is much too small for what is <br /> going on. It is over-crowded and malnutrition is happening. People love to feed the ducks by <br /> hand, but unfortunately they are feeding them things that are not healthy for the ducks, most <br /> commonly bread. I know there is this whole thought where people would ask, `Well why not put <br /> healthy food out there that people could feed the ducks with?' Well, dependency on human <br /> feeding is not good in any way, shape or form. These ducks no longer migrate because they have <br /> this constant food source and they are also getting over-fed. There is no way to control the <br /> amount of food they eat. At a place like the Potawatomi Zoo for example, they don't allow the <br /> public to feed any of the animals anymore except for the koi fish. The only people that can feed <br /> the animals there are trained vets that ensure the animals have the right diet and eat at the right <br /> time of the day. The whole idea of humans feeding animals has come and gone. We used to think <br /> it was ok but, like a lot of things we used to think were ok in our society, it is no longer ok. A lot <br /> of this discussion is predicated on what's good for the animals and what is good for the <br /> environment. <br /> Mr. Perri continued, We're told, and it is pretty easy to see, that people have been abandoning <br /> ducks out there. Any of the white ducks you see are actually not native. They are not natural. <br /> They are domesticated ducks that people have abandoned and dropped out there. Those ducks <br /> have now actually been cross-breeding with native ducks to create mutant ducks that can't <br /> migrate or fly. The ducks are going back and forth across the road and it causes traffic problems. <br /> We sometimes even see ducks getting hit by vehicles. At the end of the day, there are some <br /> things we can do to make it a little cleaner and we will continue the maintenance regimens, but <br /> this isn't about a lack of maintenance. This is about an unhealthy situation that we have created. <br /> This proposal we have drawn up on the second page of the handout includes the removal of the <br /> duck pond. What is indicated are some replacements labeled four(4) and five (5) at the top of the <br /> chart on the hand-out. We will be designing a much larger river walk and wetland area where the <br /> ducks will naturally want to migrate and inhabit. We will encourage the stopping of feeding the <br /> ducks and geese. The restored Studebaker Fountain is proposed to go where the duck pond is <br /> currently. It is not a replacement for the duck pond because these things have been thought of as <br /> mutually exclusive from one (1) another. Quite a bit of information is in the handout and we will <br /> be talking about this more at the NNN on Wednesday, June 14tH <br /> Garry Harrington, Director of the Rum Village Nature Center, stated, I've been in my role for <br /> about twenty-three (23) years and have been teaching people about nature and wildlife that <br /> whole time. As an educator, certainly I have very strong feelings about nature and wildlife. <br /> Frankly, in my job I wear two (2) hats—one (1) as an educator and one (1) as a historian. I teach <br /> people about history as well. Sometimes certain issues come head-to-head and for a short amount <br /> of time, that was true for this situation. The more I thought about this situation and the more I <br /> learned about it, the naturalists won. I do have a strong desire to preserve what we have and we <br /> have wonderful natural resources within the city limits and wonderful parks. However in good <br /> faith, I just cannot support feeding ducks. That is a bad practice. We are looking to come up with <br /> 2 <br />