Marion Huijbregts has been worried for years about the ducks living in the moat in front of her flat in Geldrop. And with good reason, because last year eight ducks and two coots died. Not by a predator, but by road users.
“People really drive so fast here”, Marion says. “It is outrageous. They come around the corner here and then they actually drive much faster than the allowed 30 kilometres per hour. Then they give full throttle. Traffic coming from the other direction actually does exactly the same”.
Hence, Marion has put up a banner and is appealing to the municipality to take action. However, no one seems to care about the ducks. “In the beginning when I moved here, it was so bad that all the chicks drowned. I knew so little about ducks, I thought, ‘Chicks, ducks, they can all swim, why do they drown?’ But I soon understood that the chicks couldn’t get out of the water without help”.
And this was necessary for survival, it turned out. Marion: “Up to a certain age, the chicks must be able to crawl under the mother to get warm enough. However, if they can’t get out of the water and the mother is dead or wounded on the shore, there is a good chance the chicks will drown. In the end, they get soaked, cold and overtired”.
Seriously
So Marion wants something to be done to save the ducks, but she feels she is not really being taken seriously. Not by her neighbours and not by the Alderperson on duty, either. “I have spoken twice – including to the previous Alderperson. She did her best, by the way. At least because of her, steps to climb out were installed – after mine had been removed”.
From current Alderperson Looijmans, Marion expects little. “I have had a conversation with him, but this seems to have been mostly for show. There are quite a few people in the neighbourhood who agree with me, but no one is sticking their neck out. Most of the members of the association of house owners are even against ducks. They want to live by the water, but they don’t want animals”.
Although she is doiubtful that the city council will take action this time, Marion is determined to keep fighting for “her” ducks. “In any case, the campaigning is never going to stop. Until no more ducks are killed. Or they’re all gone. That could also be a solution. Because this way I can no longer take pleasure from seeing the ducks”.
Signs
The Municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo informs that two warning signs were placed last summer. With these, the Municipal Executive hopes that road users will pay better attention to their speed, and thus fewer ducks will be run over.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
