Rian Hughes
Imagine if you will, you are a duck. The sun is shining, you and your duck friends are swimming and having a grand old time in the pond where you live. Suddenly, your moment of peace and calamity is interrupted by nightmarish shouts and a horde of rowdy students backflipping into your home, trampling over your eggs and chasing you around the grass. This is the life of a Duck Pond duck.
The tradition of jumping into the duck pond began last year, when App State won against Texas A&M. The tradition immediately started off as reckless and disruptive, with the destruction of the baby sculpture, vandalism of Wey Hall and fireworks being set off. For most wins since, the ducks have been relentlessly terrorized by rambunctious students.
The duck pond is undoubtedly a staple of App State’s campus, and there is no Duck Pond without the ducks. Mountaineers should be protecting these ducks and respecting their home, rather than trashing it and running amuck in their waters. The duck pond is for ducks to swim in, not humans.
The eggs must also be considered. Duck eggs can be found around the pond during this time of year, however often they have been crushed or stolen. Mallard ducks begin to form nesting pairs this time of year and Muscvoy ducks have already begun breeding, the two species found in the duck pond, meaning that the eggs that are stomped on and thrown during game days may be fertilized.
Another important factor to note is that the ducks are not wild ducks. These are domesticated animals, meaning they can not just leave the Duck Pond and fly somewhere else. These ducks have become accustomed to and reliant upon human care, so keeping them in what is undoubtedly an unsafe and, on game days, hostile environment, almost as campus decor, is ethically questionable. As previously mentioned, they are chased and backflipped into, but on top of that, the Pond is located on the corner of River St. and Stadium Drive, two very busy roads where a wandering duck could easily be struck by a car and killed.
To keep these egg stompings and duck pond dives to a minimum, the duck pond should be blocked off on game days. This is the only way to ensure that the ducks are not disturbed by game day shenanigans. No more backflips, no more crushed eggs and no more flipped duck house. Not only should the pond be blocked off, but students must be more respectful of these beautiful creatures. They are App State residents just like students and deserve to coexist peacefully.
So next time you pass the duck pond, don’t chase the ducks, be mindful of their eggs and definitely do not do a flip into the water. Let the ducks live, leave them alone.