Show ducks taken for Christmas lunch fear
Competition show ducks were stolen from a St Peter’s field on Christmas Eve and there are fears they were taken for festive meals.
Marcel Worley and his son Alfie, 12, keep 150 ducks on the Sandpiper (Nurseries) Ltd vinery on Route de Plaisance in St Peter’s.
Mr Worley, who is the Guernsey Poultry Club president, checks on the birds two or three times every day. The birds were fine when he left at 7.45am on 24 December. But when he went back to check on them at 6pm he found a scene of devastation.
The fence had been pulled down and he found the head of one duck and the body of another.
While there were some feathers, there were not enough to make it seem like this was a dog attack.
‘We lost up to 20 ducks,’ Mr Worley said.
‘There were very few feathers. I think they used a dog to round them up, but there were not lots of duck carcasses. Also two posts were snapped. If it had been a dog attack, they would have escaped and come back.’
The birds were kept for showing and the ones taken included specialist varieties, such as Saxony, Indian runner and German pekin.
Mr Worley said they would have to travel to the north of England if they wanted to replace some of the birds because they were specialist breeds.
‘This is 10 years of selective breeding down the drain,’ he said.
‘Myself and my little boy are two of the top waterfowl exhibitors in the UK and we took breeds to Guernsey when we moved here.
‘You just can’t replace them. I can buy new ducks, but they won’t be related to ours.
‘People don’t realise how much work goes into it and they aren’t respectful of other people’s property.’
‘If people want a duck to eat, they can contact me. They can’t help themselves. It’s very painful for something like this to happen.’
He said when he moved over here he thought it would be safe for the birds. But he had already had problems with polecat attacks and now there had been this latest incident.
Alfie was also keen exhibitor of ducks and had planned to breed his own again this year. But one of the white Indian runner ducks taken was one of a pair, meaning his plans are on hold.
‘It has made me feel very upset and angry,’ he said.
‘I don’t know what I will do now.’
Mr Worley said it was hard on the family.
‘You try telling your nipper that their prized ducks have been killed and ended up on someone else’s table on Christmas Eve,’ he said.
The theft is likely to have taken place in daylight or twilight. The vinery site is also used by several other bodies.
The glasshouse is used by Edible Guernsey, where volunteers tend plants and grow food, while a packing shed is used as Men’s Shed, a space aimed at giving men time to talk.
Guy Hendry, of Edible Guernsey, said: ‘We’ve had problems with security on site before, but for a charity to invest in expensive fencing to avoid problems is impractical.
‘Marcel’s Christmas Eve was ruined by this attack and it is a real shame.’
The site has CCTV and that is being checked.
n Guernsey Police would like to hear from anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious on Christmas Eve or knows about what happened to the birds.
Anyone able to help can contact PC115 Blondel on 725111 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
