At least eight ducks and two coots were killed last year near Marion Huijbregts’ apartment complex in Geldrop. She is very concerned. “Apparently people hate animals. They hardly brake at all. I don’t understand how you can kill such an animal.” She tries to save the animals with a large banner with photos of ducks that have been killed. But that creates bad blood.
The banner at the flat where Marion lives immediately catches the eye. The canvas is a few meters wide, with three photos of deceased ducks lying on the roadside. Gruesome images. “Apartment residents are not happy about it. I am wished to death, verbally abused. They call me crazy and think I should be locked up.”
Yet she does not consider removing the banner. “I want to warn people. Those ducks climb from the water onto the green strip, but it is only a few meters wide. Then they cross the road to go to the municipal garden to eat there.”
And they are often killed while crossing. “It was especially bad last year. You can already hear some cars speeding up. Then I walk to the window and try to scare the ducks away by clapping my hands. But I am not always on time and I am not always at home.”
Fence removed
She wants the municipality to install speed bumps. She installed a fence herself, but it was removed by the municipality. “I don’t have the feeling that I am being taken seriously, not even by the municipality. But I will continue to campaign until no more ducks are killed.”
The municipality did place two warning signs in the summer of 2023. There will be no other measures. “It is true that we have removed that fence. That fence was placed in violation of the rules. And that lady asked for speed bumps by telephone. However, no official request was ever submitted,” says a municipal spokesperson.
No barriers
That request would also be rejected, according to the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo. “It is already a 30-kilometer summer, so speed bumps make little sense. Moreover, ducks can also be killed with speed bumps because those ducks do not just cross just after the speed bumps.”
Marion cleans up the dead ducks herself. “According to the municipality, I don’t have to do that. But what if children walk past. It really looks horrible, with those bulging intestines.”