Outrage Over Duck Removal at Lynn U.

Amid reports that ducks that Lynn University had removed from its campus were subsequently killed, the university is pledging to never again use the contractor that handled the relocation. The university said that it had to remove the ducks, which are not native to the area, because of the mess they were making on university property and because of their impact on the campus ecosystem. Officials said that they tried many measures -- such as asking students to stop feeding them -- to discourage the duck population from remaining. And the university said that it believed that the ducks would simply be relocated alive. But in response to reports that the ducks were killed, the university posted a statement in which it said that some ducks were turned over by a contractor to third parties and that their fate can't be determined. In a post to the university's Facebook page, officials said that some had been destroyed.

Many students said that they are outraged -- and that the ducks should have been permitted to stay. Some are advocating calling animal rights groups. One student called the university's actions "despicable and disgusting." One angry person wrote: "You know, a lot of the students are rather messy and leave their trash laying about waiting for someone else to clean up their mess. Do we relocate the students or should we make them responsible for their actions? Leave the ducks alone but maybe teach the students about cleaning up after themselves."