Student starts fundraiser to front the bill for a house for the Duck Pond ducks.

The ducks who reside at Duck Pond near Trivette Dining Hall are being given a voice by an Appalachian State University student who is campaigning for their fair treatment.

Glory Silwedel, a senior graphic design major, has raised ducks as pets her whole life. She started the campaign as part of

a class project, but said she was moved by seeing the ducks freezing in the cold weather.

“Two years ago, I lived in Newland [Residence Hall],” Silwedel said. “I’d always walk by and see them shivering and they didn’t have anywhere to go to get away from the cold, so I had the idea to build a duck house.”

Silwedel said people have domesticated the ducks by feeding them bread. This domestication, Silwedel said, prevents the ducks from leaving the pond and finding warmth when the weather gets cold.

“Some of the ducks can migrate, but they choose to stay here because people in the community have domesticated them in the way of feeding them bread,” Silwedel said. “They don’t know that it’s going to get freezing cold, and they’re going to regret it.”

To protect the ducks from the cold, Silwedel wants to build a house for the ducks in the pond that would provide warmth. Silwedel said the duck house would be floating wood, and filled with hay. She estimated it would have to be 7 feet long by 7 feet wide and the cost of materials and building would be around $1,500.

Not only have the ducks become immobilized by domestication, but the bread they are being fed isn’t even nutritional for them, Silwedel said.

“They’re staying here because they know they have a food source, but I think that because they do have this food source of bread, that we should provide nutritious food for them, because they are going to stay no matter what,” Silwedel said.

Kathy Wilkinson, an employee of Appalachian Food Services, said she and some other employees frequently feed the ducks whatever leftovers are remaining at the end of the day, without worrying about the health impacts it has on the ducks.

To counter this issue, Silwedel also wants to put in a feeder, which would dispense corn for people to feed the ducks. She said the cost of the feeder is not a concern, because she is trying to find somebody to donate one.

Silwedel created a petition titled “Help Save Our Campus Ducks” to raise awareness for the cause, which can be found at www.change.org.

“We all have to put in our time and give [the ducks] what they deserve,” Silwedel said.

“I used to live on campus at Justice [Residence Hall] and then Newland Hall, and walking by the pond every day, seeing the ducks huddled together and freezing was so heartbreaking,” said Lacey Miller, a junior marketing major who supports the petition. “I’m so happy someone is taking initiative to not only bring housing to them, but better food options as well.”

Story: Thomas Culkin, News Reporter
Photo: Maggie Davis, Intern Photographer