Open season declared on lusty duck
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The ruddy duck is originally from North America.
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LONDON (Reuters) -- The British government has declared open season on the ruddy duck, saying it wanted to wipe out the sexually voracious fowl which is originally from North America.
The ruddy duck was introduced to Britain in the 1940s and began breeding like wildfire.
Now it has gained a foothold on mainland Europe, cross-breeding with the native white-headed duck and threatening it as a species, particularly in Spain.
A report for the government suggested the ruddy duck could be removed from Britain within a decade and that shooting was the most effective means, wildlife minister Elliot Morley said in a statement Monday that made ugly reading for duck lovers.
"Eradication of the ruddy duck in the United Kingdom is the preferred outcome," Morley said. "Without action in the UK, the survival of the white-headed duck as a distinct species would be severely compromised."
But welfare group Animal Aid said the white-headed duck's problem was not the amorous attentions of its feathered cousin but gun-toting Spanish hunters.
"White-headed ducks have been brought to the point of extinction because they have been mercilessly hunted in Spain and their habitat destroyed," director Andrew Tyler said.
"Mating with the robust ruddy duck is the white-headed duck's means of survival. We should leave them to it and not compound our near-destruction of one species with the destruction of another."
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