Authorities capture duck shot with blowdart

A female mallard who was shot in the neck with a blowdart has been captured by wildlife officials and will be heading north with her six ducklings to a more tame environment.

The saga began earlier this week when residents spotted the duck in a pond on the city's southwest side, a 5-inch blowdart protruding through its neck.

Efforts to capture the duck failed until Friday morning, when state and federal officials coaxed it to snack on some bread laced with a tranquilizer.

Mel Anderson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife services program in Ely, Nev., captured the groggy duck while Mike Cox of the Nevada Division of Wildlife rounded up her six furry ducklings.

Anderson removed the dart and will monitor the duck's condition the next couple of days, then take the family to a natural wetlands area near Ely.

Cox said the dart did not pierce any vital areas in the duck's neck.

"She just got tangled up with a human being who shouldn't have been doing what he was doing," Cox said of the incident. "People need to respect wildlife more."

Roger Vanoordt, animal control supervisor for the city of Las Vegas, had appealed to the public to refrain from feeding the duck.

"We want to get it hungry so we can approach it," he said Thursday.

That was the case Friday when Anderson laced some crumbs of bread with a trace of the drug alpha-chloralose. The duck started snacking, then drifted off to sleep.

Vanoordt believes the duck was shot earlier this week, possibly by a neighborhood youth.

Cox said the duck family would be moved north to a more natural environment to avoid further problems.

"We don't want it to happen again," he said of the shooting.

Las Vegas has become a favorite stop for migrating ducks, Vanoordt said, because of the growing number of lakes and ponds

The incident was reminiscent of Donna the Duck, a wild duck who captured national attention here 18 years ago when she was shot with an arrow. She defied rescue efforts for a week before she was captured and the arrow removed.

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