CITRUS PARK, Fla. — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the deaths of more than 20 ducks within a week at a Citrus Park community.
10 Tampa Bay arrived at the area near Gunn Highway and Citrus Crest Circle on Monday and witnessed multiple dead ducks and others that looked sick. A report was sent to the FWC.
Neighbors in the area said they have been spotting dead ducks each day. Rachel Palmer, a person from within the community, said her son found four dead ducks near the residential pond last week. Palmer said she took photos of the ducks and sent them to FWC.
“The ducks are really suffering I don’t know what’s happening to them but they are suffering,” said Palmer.
Another neighbor, Mara Gallo, said it’s an unsettling feeling for a lot of pet owners in the neighborhood right now. She also said a lot of people pass by the pond with their animals on walks.
“It’s really unfortunate and I hope that they find out what happened because we really want to avoid that in the future,” she explained.
An anonymous resident passed out a flyer claiming that someone may have poisoned the ducks. Other residents said they believe it's being caused by an environmental issue or possibly bird flu.
“I don’t want to accuse anybody of poisoning until we have evidence,” said Palmer.
The FWC said they took water samples and some of the ducks to conduct tests.
Some neighbors are planning to have a community meeting to talk about the duck situation at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.