80 ducks dead from tar—more likely

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33060, 30 October 1972, Page 1

80 ducks dead from tar—more likely

About 71 ducks and nine ducklings have died or been destroyed because of the spillage of several hundred gallons of tar into the Heathcote River on Thursday evening.

More ducks would probably die during the next few days, said the secretary of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society (Mr H. B. Barker) yesterday.

Mr B. N. Norris, an honorary ranger, said yesterday that birds which were not badly coated with the tar could take several days to die. Nothing could be done to help them, he said. Once a duck preened the tar from its feathers, and tar entered its stomach, there was no way of saving it. Even if the bird was caught before it preened itself, there

was little that could be done, ] as there was nothing to lift ’ the tar off the feathers tho- ; roughly enough. :

Mr Norris said he had had about three calls to affected ducks on Saturday, but none yesterday. About four Christchurch Drainage Board men worked on the tar problem at times yesterday, the board’s chief engineer (Mr P. J. McWilliam) said.

The Heathcote River was virtually clean, he said, but there was still some tar coming down the drain which led about a mile and a half from the Christchurch Gas Company’s works to the outfall into the Heathcote River at Richardson Terrace.

The board was maintaining a straw trap at the outfall, he said, and it was at this point that yesterday’s work was concentrated. More tar would come down the drain during the next two or three days as the tides washed it from the sides of the drain, he said. Mr Barker yesterday praised the work of the pub-

lie, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Acclimatisation Society’s own staff in recovering ducks and attempting to reduce the damage and loss of birds. The society was most grateful for the help which had been given by the public, Mr Barker said. Without their assistance in catching ducks, the affected birds would have spread much further afield. The society was also grateful to the Drainage Board’s staff for the efficient way in which it had cleaned up the spill, Mr Barker said,