I’m not sure if this is better or worse than the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, but the U.K. government has been spending millions of dollars in a futile effort to exterminate a duck. And because they are relying on government bureaucrats to kill the ducks, the cost-per-dead-duck is well over $750. I would suggest that they simply offer regular citizens a $50 bounty on each dead duck, but that might not work since the government has banned private gun ownership. Not surprisingly, this foolish program was instigated by the bureaucrats at the European Commission. Here’s a report from the Daily Telegraph:
- For five years it has been subject to a ruthless European Union-inspired campaign of extermination. But now the ruddy duck could be about to have the last laugh. …The cull was supposed to have been completed this year, but despite the killing of 6,200 ruddy ducks, the population is starting to increase again. …And while the British government has been trying to kill off its population, ruddy ducks in Holland and France have grown in number, undermining the British effort. …Lee Evans, from the British Birding Association, said: “It is a pointless farce. They will never be able to kill every last bird. …”The cull has been a complete and utter waste of money because the government would have to kill every one and there is no possibility of that.” …The five year project to kill off the ruddy duck, co-ordinated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), is due to finish this summer. But 687 birds are still alive in the UK, up from an estimated 400 to 500 two years ago. …Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid, said: “This has been a completely hopeless slaughter. The whole premise is nonsense, as well as the logistics, and it has also been extraordinarily expensive. “The birds from Britain don’t seem to be going to Spain anyway, but even if ruddies are breeding with white headed ducks, that is a natural hybridisation that occurs in many birds.” …At one shoot earlier this month, an estimated 12 Defra officials, in eight boats, killed a total of 14 ducks on Ibsley Water, near the New Forest. …Half the cost of the UK’s £3.3 million ruddy duck cull has been met by the EU, with the other half provided by Defra. It follows earlier research by the department into eradicating ruddy ducks, said to have cost a further £1.3 million.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7110463/500-a-duck-bill-for-cull-o n-behalf-of-Spain.html
