Mystery as ducks in allotment pond left covered in cooking oil

A bird charity says it has had to treat a number of ducks following a mysterious pollution incident at a housing estate pond.

Manx Wild Bird Aid says it has treated three ducks after they were found covered in a substance believed to be cooking oil and more reports are coming.

The birds were admitted to the charity’s care on December 30 after being found in difficulty in the duck pond at the Governor’s Hill housing estate in Douglas.

Online, the charity said: “If looks could kill we’d be short of volunteers thanks to the mallard duck we named Donald, admitted from Governors Hill on December 30.

“We share his pain because Donald spent New Years with us trying to wash the cooking oil off his feathers.” There are more spa days on the horizon for Donald. Then we need to make it waterproof again.

The charity admits it doesn’t know exactly where the cooking oil comes from, but it urged people to be careful when throwing items down the drain.

He said: “Where the oil came from remains a mystery as there does not appear to be any in the pond at the moment. However, it is possible that the oily substance was dumped into a street drain (storm water) which then flowed into the pond and contaminated several of the much-loved resident ducks.

“It will take many hours to get the three ducks back into a condition where they can be released. On top of that, we are still receiving reports that more ducks appear to be oiled.

“However this all happened, it reminds us that one small act can have big consequences for our wildlife and environment.”