Duck Family Finds Safe Harbor in Pleasant Ridge Pool
(Crystal A. Proxmire, June 3, 2015)
Word seems to be spreading in the animal kingdom about how kindly the residents of Pleasant Ridge welcome unexpected four-legged, and two-legged, guests. For years a rescued stray cat named PR (purr) roamed the rooms of city hall and sneaked into city commission meetings. Much of last summer was spent by residents rallying to save Baby, a fawn whose mother was hit by a car.  And of course the friendly neighborhood pig brings smiles to the faces of passer-bys while out for walks with its human.
So is it isn’t much of a surprise to learn that a family of mallard ducks taking up residence at the Pleasant Ridge Pool is not ruffling very many feathers among community members.
“The ducks are yearly visitors, I’m told. Every year when we open and fill the pool, the mother duck comes back and soon enough there are ducklings,” said Pleasant Ridge City Manager James Breuckman. “They join us for a little while and soon move along. I’m not sure how our pool became their springtime place, but it’s certainly one of the larger permanent bodies of water around this part of the County.”
There seems to be nine ducklings this year along with one mother duck. They swim when the pool is not busy, and generally keep to themselves. Breuckman said they likely won’t stay long.
“They’re wild animals so we don’t feed them or make any special accommodations for them. We try to leave them alone until they move along. We can deal with the things that come along with having ducks in the pool for a few weeks in the spring, but we’d rather not have them here all summer. Fortunately they’ve always left before the pool gets really busy in the summer.”
While many adore the ducks, some have shared fears about transmitting diseases. However, animals coming to public and private pools is fairly common and the Centers for Disease Control even has a page dedicated to “Pools and Birds.” The CDC states that proper chlorination will kill diseases that can be found in bird droppings.
Breuckman is confident in the recreation staff. “We monitor the pool to ensure that it stays safe and usually the ducks and people coexist peacefully during the less crowded early days at the pool. Just don’t provoke the momma duck and everything should be fine!”
The Mayor does not mind at all. “Last year Pleasant Ridge rallied to take care of an orphaned deer. This year we have designated one of our Community Pool lanes to a mother Mallard and her 9 ducklings,” said Mayor Kurt Metzger who has no problem swimming alongside the city’s newest guests.
For previous animal-related Pleasant Ridge stories see:
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/11/24/baby-makes-her-move-pleasant-ridge-deer-video/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/11/12/pleasant-ridge-neighbors-consider-how-to-help-baby-the-deer-through-the-winter/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/10/19/the-deer-the-pig-and-the-cockatoo-a-pleasant-ridge-love-story-video/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/07/31/deer-fatally-struck-on-woodward-in-pleasant-ridge/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/07/04/oh-deer-pleasant-ridge-and-hazel-park-get-unusual-visitors/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/08/07/pleasant-ridges-pr-the-cat-adds-adorableness-to-city-hall-video/
http://oaklandcounty115.com/2011/03/08/coyote-sighted-in-pleasant-ridge-today/