FWC investigating deaths of ducklings at mobile home community

Residents at Portside Mobile Home complex say ducks are covered with oil

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Wildlife Commission began an investigation after the News4Jax I-TEAM brought attention to an oily pond, blamed for the deaths of wildlife at a mobile home community.

Some people living in the Portside Mobile Home community, located off Beach Boulevard, are upset over the recent deaths of seven or eight ducklings at one of the ponds in their complex.

Many of the residents who live near the pond fish in it and said people have been seen dumping trash and other things in the water.

"There's been dead ducklings, fish and some of the birds that are still left have some kind of oil or chemical on them," said Jule Countryman, a resident of the mobile home park.

Countryman said she's worried oil may have been purposely dumped into the pond, which could have caused the recent deaths of wildlife.

“We have a pair of white ducks here that had seven or eight ducklings and within a week, they were gone. They were really underweight and they had that slimy stuff on them, so hopefully we can save the few that are still left here,” Countryman said.

Another resident said she recently saw a man pouring an unknown liquid from a plastic bag into the pond, while another told News4Jax she noticed dead wildlife within the past couple of weeks.

Within 24 hours of the I-TEAM report, FWC began investigating.

"After I sent your (News4Jax's) information to my law enforcement folks, they did have somebody go out there. He took photographs and he’s going to interact with the Department of Environmental Protection," said Karen Parker with FWC.

As state investigators work to fix the problem, Countryman had a message for the person or people responsible for the mess.

“Take care of your trash," Countryman said. "It’s not up to anyone else to suffer because you’re lazy.”


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