Marlene McConchie had just sat down to dinner when the phone rang.

It was her neighbor calling to alert her that ducks were taking a dip in her new swimming pool.

  "I was livid," she said, blaming neighbors who feed the birds near her Davie home. "This duck issue is out of control. They are taking over the neighborhood."

It's a fact of life in South Florida. Where you have water, you have ducks. And where you have ducks, you have duck droppings -- and, oftentimes, neighborhood disputes between those who love the ducks and those who despise them.

In communities from Davie to Deerfield Beach, one resident may insist on feeding the ducks while another frets over the mementos left behind.

In Weston, Anders Aasen complained to his homeowners association about neighbors who were feeding the ducks despite his protests. Soon after, ducks started turning up dead all over the neighborhood, apparently hit by cars. Aasen said he did not kill them, but someone apparently thought he did, draping two of the dead birds over his cars.

Broward Sheriff's Lt. Sherry Schlueter has a message for those who would harm or deliberately kill the animals: It can get you five years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.

Say someone swerves to intentionally hit a duck. That's a third-degree felony under the state's animal cruelty law.

"We aggressively pursue these cases. We don't think it's a joke," said Schlueter, who oversees the special victims and family crimes unit at the Sheriff's Office. "These are crimes -- crimes against animals."

The Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale treats dozens of injured Muscovy ducks each year. They have been beaten, hit by cars and shot with BB guns and arrows, said Judy LaRose, the center's senior director of animal services.

Eunice Sivertsen, who runs the Duck Haven in Margate, gets calls every day from South Floridians concerned about people abusing ducks. She sends the most disturbing complaints to the Sheriff's Office. Sivertsen has no patience for those who claim Muscovies carry disease and should be purged from neighborhoods.

"All animals can carry disease," she said. "We might as well annihilate the whole animal population. They just want a place to reside in peace without being tortured."

Muscovies, known for the fleshy red circle around their bills, are one of the most maligned species in Florida, Schlueter said. Some perceive them as ugly and don't like their large size or the fact that they hiss instead of quack.

"People either love them or hate them," Schlueter said, adding that Muscovies help keep the insect population down by dining on mosquitoes, flies, snakes and small rodents.

In Margate, Lorraine Profeta recently saw a neighbor chasing the ducks with a broom.

"People just hate them," Profeta said. "The Muscovy ducks are very friendly, and they shouldn't be persecuted."

Still, when feeding the ducks sparks a neighborhood feud, sometimes the best thing to do is stop, Schlueter said.

"If you do feed them, do it at the same time in the same place to reduce annoyance to neighbors," she said. "The less your neighbors see the animals, the more likely [the ducks] will be safe."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-sducks22may22,0,5705393.story?coll=sfla-news-broward