A duckling from Port Angeles’ Lincoln Park is recovering in Sequim after surgery removed a 5-inch metal blow dart from its torso, a Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center spokesman said Wednesday.
The bird was rescued from a slow death earlier this week after being shot with a blow gun.
“The dart went straight through the duckling’s chest, close to the surface of the skin,” said Jaye Moore, executive director of the Sequim nonprofit center, on Tuesday, adding that the bird was “clearly in pain and undersized compared to his sibling, who we left with their mom.”
The surgery was conducted by Jennifer Tavares of Greywolf Veterinary Hospital in Sequim, the veterinary partner of the raptor center, and the duckling is recuperating, said Matthew Randazzo, the raptor center’s board president and spokesman, on Wednesday.
“The duckling appears to be in physically great shape, though he seems very traumatized and irritated by his current predicament,” Randazzo said.
“We hope to release him back into the wild soon so he can, if possible, reunite with his mother and sibling.”
The duckling was brought to the center by Brenda Borte, who lives near Lincoln Park and often walks there.
Two weeks ago, she saw a duckling that had been shot with a blow dart.
The duckling was only a few weeks old and was struggling with a dart stuck in its chest, she said.
Borte tried to catch it by feeding the duck family in hopes that they would become tame enough that she could catch the injured duckling, she said.
Over those weeks, two of its three clutch-mates disappeared, Borte said.
On Sunday, only one duckling from the clutch, now twice the size of the “skewered” little duck, showed up for the daily feeding.
Borte found the mother duck standing guard over the injured duckling, which was tangled in fishing line and completely immobilized in a clump of bushes.
That allowed her to catch the duck and take it to the raptor center.
The duck appeared to have been shot by a Terminator blowgun, Randazzo said.
“The Port Angeles Police Department is investigating the case,” Randazzo said.
With the exception of the injured duckling, there is no indication that the missing ducklings are the result of human actions, he said.
“Ducklings have a high mortality rate in the wild,” he said.
Terminator blowguns have been designated illegal to sell in several states, including California and New Jersey, and their sale is restricted in Massachusetts.
Buyers must be 16 to purchase the dart gun in Port Angeles-area stores, Borte said.
“We also have received reports of kids and young teenagers fishing at Lincoln Park who are intentionally striking ducklings when they cast their fishing lines,” Randazzo said.
Borte said she has seen ducks with fishing hooks with line attached hanging from their beaks and fishing weights and line wrapped around their legs.
“Please clean up after yourselves,” Borte said.
In this case, that loose line helped Borte save a duckling, but it can also kill and injure other animals, she said.
Anyone with information into the abuse of the duckling can email Matthew@NWRaptorCenter.com.
For more information or to make donations toward the care of wildlife, visit www.NWRaptorCenter.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.