Activists have raised concerns after hundreds of ducks rescued in California were distributed to adopters without thorough vetting, including individuals with questionable associations such as a cockfighting enthusiast and a livestock business.

The Riverside County Department of Animal Services (RCDAS) took charge of 480 ducks on April 14, which were voluntarily surrendered by a landowner in an unincorporated area of Riverside County.

Prior to this large-scale operation, Animal Control Officers had conducted inspections of the property as part of an ongoing probe, with the ducks being relinquished due to overcrowding issues, as stated by RCDAS.

“Organizing an operation of this magnitude demands meticulous coordination within our department, with our foremost concern being the secure transport and reception of these animals today,” explained Dr. Kimberly Youngberg, Assistant Director at RCDAS.

“Given our inability to provide long-term care for such a large number of animals, it is crucial that we act swiftly to secure placements with rescue groups, adopters, and willing organizations within the week,” she added.

Just two days later, RCDAS shared on Facebook that all the ducks had been successfully adopted or rescued. This outcome followed their decision to offer the ducks on a first-come, first-served basis while waiving all associated fees.

One man whose Facebook profile lists multiple references to cockfighting said he got 11 of the ducks.

A business named Matt’s Livestock got 270 of the birds and began selling them on Facebook for $15 each, The Orange County Register reported.

Almost 500 ducks rescued from a property in California earlier this month were allegedly given away to unvetted adopters

Two days after Riverside County Department of Animal Services rescued the birds, the agency said all of them have been rehomed

A man from the business, who identified himself as Matt, told the newspaper that he does not vet his customers.

‘I do not do any screenings,’ he said. ‘I run a livestock business.’

Animal activists quickly expressed concern that the ducks had been given to the wrong people.

‘Personally not happy when I found out the process of how they will just give it away, God knows how many what it ended up on someone’s plate,’ one person wrote on Facebook.

‘I don’t know why you are patting yourselves on the backs, this case was handled atrociously,’ wrote another.

‘These ducks moved from one horrible situation right into another. Allowing someone to take 300 ducks only for them to be immediately listed for sale is not rescue. You just handed them out like candy on Halloween not caring who they went too.’

A third person wrote, ‘And how many of them are on the dinner table tonight?’

‘This is disturbing, mass adopting of birds without caring if they are just going to another problem situation is irresponsible,’ added a fourth.

Activists say the birds were given to livestock sellers and a man who has an affinity for cockfighting 

RCDAS took possession of 480 ducks surrendered by a property owner in unincorporated Riverside County on April 14

It is unclear if any background checks were done on the duck adopters. 

RCDAS told the newspaper they had to rehome the ducks quickly because it was ‘in the best interest of the animals,’ given that the surrender was ‘the largest single intake for the department in over a decade.’

‘Given our inability to provide long-term care for that many animals, we urgently acted to secure placement through rescue and adoption, leaning on the public to give the animals a different outcome than the overcrowded conditions they came from,’ public information officer Veronica Perez said.

‘Urgency was of the essence in order to not impact the planned large-scale intake or impede the ongoing investigation.’ 

The Daily Mail contacted the Riverside County Department of Animal Services for comment.