Feeding the ducks is a pretty quaint and even romantic image. When I think about living out my days with my partner I imagine us feeding the ducks together at the park, but Amsterdam’s districts do not agree!
It’s not that Amsterdam hates ducks. It’s more that the food we feed ducks, pigeons, and whatever else with a mouth/beak is hanging around is often too much and ends up being left on the street.
Unsurprisingly, rodents love that leftover food, and Amsterdam has too many rats! Het Parool reports: ‘in 2019, 3409 reports of rat nuisance were made in Amsterdam, in 2020 this rose to 5441 reports: a growth of almost 60 percent.’ That’s a lot of rats, guys!
In the South and the East, there’s been a feeding ban for a while, but for whatever reason, it’s pretty hard to enforce. So, the districts of Amsterdam are now united in trying to tackle this problem, and it’s expected to start this spring. Don’t worry though, you’re not going to be cuffed and sent to the station for feeding the ducks, you’re more likely to have someone tell you why feeding the ducks isn’t a good idea.