JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said a man shooting mallard ducks around his dock near the Intracoastal Waterway won't be prosecuted, but he was told he had to stop.
News4Jax learned Tuesday that the man was using an air gun to shoot the birds, which have been growing in numbers in and around his dock and neighbors were concerned that one of the pellets could end up hitting something it wasn't intended to.
An FWC spokeswoman said the man believed he was acting within the law since he had all the proper permits.
"The gentleman who is shooting at the ducks had received erroneous information about what he could do," said Karen Parker, FWC spokeswoman. "My officer clarified what could and could not be done and instructed him to stop shooting the ducks."
Neighbors said that part of what they love about living along the water is all of the wildlife that is around. They say that if the ducks are taken, they hope that they are relocated and not euthanized.
"That doesn't have to be the only solution to the situation," said Cindy Mosling, director of the BEAKS wildlife refuge.
The man tells me he had already been in contact with a trapper to come out and remove the mallards, and he was seen surveying the area Wednesday morning.
Mosling said that if the birds are able to be caught, she will take them and have them relocated somewhere where they can live.
"They don't have to die, they do not have to die. They have a place to come to," Mosling siad.
Neighbors just wish that it didn't come to this since they say that many people enjoy watching the birds on the water throughout the day.
"I've never heard one person in the whole time that I've been in Broadwater --and I was one of the first ones here -- ever say anything negative, ever, about the ducks. Everybody likes them. Almost everybody," one neighbor said.