PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Some residents at Aberdeen Golf and Country Club near Boynton Beach are upset over how they’ve seen some staff there treating ducks.
Janet Pelosi Diamond, who has lived at the club for more than two decades, called WPTV after she said a morning moment of peace overlooking the golf course was quickly stained after she realized a family of ducks she had seen grow up was lying dead on a field.
"I was beside myself at what I was seeing," Pelosi Diamond said. "When I walked over there, there was blood all over the place."
She said once she saw what was going on at the golf course behind her home, she had to record it.
"I don't think a lot of people know what's going on at the country club," Pelosi Diamond said. "What I saw I thought was just so disgusting, so horrible, for the animals who are struggling to make it and to survive at a beautiful location, and they just turned it into a bloody nightmare."
She said it's sad to see ducks that she's watched grow into a lovely flock suddenly be killed.
"I watched these ducks grow up," Pelosi Diamond said. "I watched the mom with the little babies. I watched them struggling to survive each day, and they have, until someone decided that they needed to be removed. This isn't removal. This is killing."
She said this all happened Thursday morning at the club.
WPTV contacted the administration at the club who said they've hired a licensed trapper who removes nonnative invasive species.
After WPTV showed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission the video, they said the ducks are muscovies — an invasive species.
The FWC said these types of ducks can be shot as long as it's during daylight hours while using non-toxic bullets on private property.
Regardless of the legality of this issue, Pelosi Diamond said this is unacceptable.
"It's a lovely place to live, and I want it to stay a lovely way to live," Pelosi Diamond said. "This has just really put a bloody mark on the community."
She said some neighbors are planning on speaking to the administration to demand the ducks be treated humanely.