Bozeman, Montana – On January 29, a domestic duck was discovered dead with many blowdarts embedded throughout its body. This led to volunteers and Bozeman Animal Control organizing a rescue.
Bozeman’s West Valley Park is home to a large number of ducks throughout the year, but over the past two years, a strange handful of new ducks have joined the group. According to reports, three domesticated ducks were released nearby and settled in the pond.
“They never should have been dropped off, they’re domestic ducks and they can’t fly away to get food somewhere else,” Paul Gray said, “But somebody shot a couple of arrows in them.”
“One of them was missing—the female—which was odd to me because they can’t fly,” Susanna Lake, who discovered the injured duck said, “Within seconds I saw the male, and he had 4 darts shot into him.”
Lake describes the experience as horrifying and notes how much the locals value these ducks.
Gray, who has the previous ice-related experience, put on waders and completed the journey in an effort to get the duck to lie down.
“One of the ducks may have died, we don’t know where it is,” Gray said, “It’s terribly sad to see somebody do this to the ducks.
The darts were taken out once the ducks were captured, and the duo was then brought to a Bozeman Pet urgent care. According to Lake, the black duck, now known as “Elton John,” underwent an examination and had an X-ray taken.
“It’s like he knew he was being helped,” Lake said.
The pair of ducks left Lake’s restroom after spending the night there and headed for a new residence.
Although Lake says that there is no suspect in this case, folks in the neighborhood should heed this warning.
“You can’t do this to animals in a public park. If your children want to hunt, take them hunting! But do the right thing, you can’t do animal cruelty because that’s wrong,” Lake said.
Contact Bozeman Animal Control if you know anything about the event.
