All hands on deck for the ducks: ‘Their nests are a snack bar for hunting animals’

Rats, crows, magpies, hedgehogs, jays. Heidi Looy lists all the animals that prey on duck nests. The rat population in particular is increasing enormously, because it has recently been banned from being controlled. “When ducks leave her nest for a while to eat or drink, such a nest is a snack bar for hunting animals,” says Heidi.

Radio M Utrecht reporter Robert Jan Booij looks at the breeding baskets, and suddenly finds a naked dog

So she and her husband Wilco devised a breeding basket. On Wednesday afternoon they will install it in the outskirts of De Hoef, in the municipality of De Ronde Venen. “There is a narrow opening in it,” says Wilco. “The duck can go right through it. But nothing else can get to it. It’s 75 centimeters above the ground.”

The breeding baskets are such a success that alderman Rein Kroon receives one. In total, Heidi and Wilco have already installed about two hundred. But it is always possible to do more. “People who live in residential areas can also participate,” says Heidi. “They can also come to ponds at old people’s homes or at schools. It’s wonderful to follow when a duck goes in. Seeing those eggs hatch, that’s what you do it for.”

Although there are still more than enough ducks in the Netherlands, they are having a hard time. Not just because many eggs are stolen. Also because there are relatively more males than females. “Sometimes the males kill the females,” Wilco says. “Or they drown the chicks because the mother duck no longer pays attention to them.” To maintain the population, Wilco and Heidi, professional hunters, have to regularly shoot drakes.

“Shooting ducks is the only way to do wildlife management.”