But the sanctuary says there is no need for concern for the ducks.

“Although we aren’t duck experts, we do feel that this image has been misinterpreted,” they told Lovin Malta. “These ducks are wild or semi-wild, and will do just fine without human intervention.”

“Should they feel that the habitat they are currently living in is unsuitable, we have no doubt they will relocate elsewhere.”

Besides, there are food sources in the area, like huge schools of small fish that the ducks eat.

“Isn’t this a far more natural and nutritious food source than the mouldy bread and rotting vegetables they had been eating previously at Duck Village? Isn’t it also better that they are no longer living in a disease-infested, unsanitary man-made ‘village’?”

There are ducks all around the islands, the sanctuary said, for example in Marsaskala. “A few weeks back, when there was heavy rain and strong winds, the ducks in Marsaskala were also standing outside restaurants looking a bit lost, despite having many sheltered areas they could have gone to.”

And even the ducks they have at the sanctuary love to stand in the wind and rain despite having big kennels filled with straw to go into, they said.

“However, setting up adequate shelters and a fresh water source for these ducks, especially in time for warmer temperatures, would most certainly be a wise move.”

The sanctuary explained that it had been pushing for decent shelters and access to fresh water right from the start. Authorities said that the local council and MIDI would speak to potentially arrange this, but this hasn’t happened yet.

It was, in any case, never the plan to remove the ducks from the area they call home.

“We took all the animals but the ducks. Despite Duck Village being dismantled, we felt it was a suitable environment for them, and that catching and relocating them would have caused them a lot of stress and potentially caused more harm than good.”

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