Ducks at nearby Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

Over 40 Orange County ducks, (found at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park) have been discovered as sick and dead from a disease called avian botulism, a neurotoxin disease that causes ducks to become limp, lifeless, and unable to move. This disease is caused when ducks eat rotting or decaying food (or the maggots that feed on it) along with heat and receding or still water.

The affected ducks have been taken to the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach for treatment, which includes being flushed with fluid. Nearly 30 ducks had died as of Friday, and 11 affected ducks had survived, slowly returning to normal health. In an effort to prevent an outbreak, park officials have put up signs urging people not to feed the ducks.

If you see sickly, dying, dead, or unusually slow-moving ducks when you are at a local park, be sure to alert an official nearby. Nobody wants to see anything happen to our precious ducks. It is nice that we have officials that care so much for our local wildlife to bring them in for treatment and restore them to proper health. I sincerely hope that conditions at the parks improve so that the ducks will not have to be affected in this sad way.