Ducks at Sports Complex disappear

A horse thats was captured Tuesday night in Indian Hills, munches hay at the McKinley County Humane Society on Wednesday morning. Animal Control say the starving horse is in very poor shape and the owner will be cited for cruelty to animals. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — The mallard ducks and the two geese living at the Sports Complex on Park Avenue in Gallup are gone.

For many years, the ducks and geese hung out at the effluent water pond that is used to irrigate the grass playing fields. They were a treat for many people, including runner Beth McDonald, who saw them daily for years.

The ducks and geese were fed by many bird-loving locals, and they stayed around yearlong as birds will do when they have food and water. There were about 15 of the birds, McDonald said. They started to disappear one by one. One day she ran by and saw one of the ducks dead with what she called obvious bullet holes. Another day, during her run, she saw three youths inside the chain-link fence and one of the boys had grabbed a goose and was dragging it around by the neck. She yelled at them and they ran. But, she said, when she finished her jogging loop, the boys were back inside the fence. She reported them to the employee who lives and works at the Sports Complex.

City Parks and Recreation Director Ben Welch said he knew nothing about shot or stoned birds, but during the cleaning and draining of the effluent pond, a coyote was able to get through the fence and attack the ducks.

Whatever happened to the birds decimated their population at the Sports Complex. The beautiful brown and blue birds are dead.

Starving horse

A horse was found roaming around the streets of Indian Hills Tuesday, and was taken to the Humane Society by an animal control officer who said the horse was obviously starving.

The horse was given some food and water at the Humane Society and the owners, who live behind the Hogback on the southside of Indian Hills, will be notified their animal was taken. This has happened before with these people, said Romie Calderon, animal control officer, and he said he planned to give them a citation this time. He said he hopes the owner will sign a surrender form.

Because the land is on the reservation area of the checkerboard, an officer from The Navajo Nation Veterinary Livestock Program will come out to the home to see if the family has other horses and what kind of shape they are in. As of 3 p.m., Wednesday, the Humane Society still had not been contacted by the horse’s owner.