WATCH: Just under 100 ducklings dumped during TikTok trend have been rehomed

DSPCA were "inundated with calls and emails from very concerned members of the public about young children buying ducklings for €5 because of a trend on TikTok". Parents arrived to the shelter with them in shoe boxes and plastic cartons not knowing how to care for them. Picture: DSPCA/Facebook

Almost 100 ducks have been rehomed by the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) after ducklings were being sold on city streets for as little as €5.

A TikTok trend where people video a day in the life of a duckling has fuelled the practice of buying ducks.

Sadly, though, in many cases, the ducks were discarded when they were no longer wanted.

Videos on the platform with the hashtag ‘ducklings’ have amassed more than 288m views.

The DSPCA collected two ducklings after receiving "a very upsetting call". A lady removed them from children who were being very mean to them. Picture: DSPCA/Facebook

Gillian Bird, the head of education and media at the DSPCA, said just under 100 ducklings were brought into the DSPCA. 

All of the farmyard ducks have been rehomed.

Farmyard ducklings are “the lovely little yellow ones,” she explained. Brown ducklings might be from different breeds of ducks that have come from the wild ducks that live on the canals and ponds.

Currently, there are 25 wild ducklings in the shelter “waiting to be old enough to be rehomed”. 

Parents arrived at the shelter with the ducks in shoe boxes and plastic cartons not knowing how to care for them.

Ducklings that were presented to the shelter faced “a lack of proper care”, Ms Bird said.

“The issues would have been a lack of a clean dry environment with heat lamps and the correct food for ducklings," she said.

“If they are let get too cold at such a young age they can catch a cold and get pneumonia."

They've got to be kept warm, they've got to be fed properly — they also have a lifespan of between seven and 15 years — so what are people going to be doing with them long term?

“There was also the issue of the manner in which they were transported and moved to different houses — their legs and wings are very fragile and can easily be damaged if they fall off a bed or out of someone's hands."

However, the animal rescue service still has major concerns about people who may have “released” the ducks into the wild. It takes up to four weeks for a duckling’s feathers to become fully waterproof.

“We are still concerned that people who bought these ducklings may 'release' them into the wild in parks and along the canal or rivers where they will not survive,” Ms Bird said.

Ms Bird said the “amazing reaction” from the media has helped “kill the trend".

Let's hope when the next trend comes along people will have learnt.

However, according to Cork SPCA, this has not been a widespread issue and there has been “no rise in duck numbers” to their shelter.

“Every year, we would have a number of ducks brought in which is nothing to do with TikTok,” Vincent Cashman of the CSPCA said.

"However, these are particular mallard ducks as mallards are typically terrible mothers who have a large batch of ducklings and nest in unsuitable places

“Yellow ducks are more commercial and farmyard animals, poultry suppliers won’t sell just one duck to buyers.

“The Department of Agriculture has introduced flock numbers which are issued to people responsible for the care of the animals,” he said.