N.B. restaurant owner disappointed duck egg protection efforts thwarted by alleged thief

A Fredericton restaurant owner is frustrated their efforts to protect a duck nest have been thwarted by an alleged egg thief over the weekend.

Tabatha Smith, who owns Isaac’s Way restaurant in the city’s downtown, says they delayed opening their patio for the spring season to keep the eggs safe.

“About five weeks ago, we came out to open our patio and discovered an egg in a planter that was left on our patio from last summer,” Smith said.

“At first, we didn’t realize it was a duck laying those eggs. Over the course of three to four days, we saw that egg count increase.”

“We came out on the fourth day to open the patio for service and the mama duck was hissing at us, so we decided it was her patio,” Smith added.

The restaurateur obtained a permit to move the eggs to a nearby shelter they built for the mama duck, just off the patio to keep her and her eggs safe.

“The folks at Nature Trust helped us with that permit application, and we learned that a full clutch of eggs is 10 to 12, so we knew we had a window of time to kind of safely relocate her,” Smith said.

The restaurant backs right onto Saint John the river, making it an ideal location for nearby wildlife.

“We received the permit on Thursday and we started migrating the nest, and she was following it, so we were confident that she was going to accept the nest,” Smith said.

“If she had decided not to accept the new home we had built for her, the Canadian Wildlife Services were on deck to come pick up those eggs today or tomorrow and incubate them themselves.”

But they say all their efforts to protect the ducks became moot when a man approached the nest behind the restaurant Sunday evening and took the eggs.

“About six o’clock, an unidentified gentleman was seen at the nest. One of my employees said, ‘please, get away from that nest.' He stood up -- he had taken all the eggs and put them in a hat -- walked into our parking lot, got into a car and drove away,” Smith said.

Smith hopes the man did not take the eggs for nefarious reasons.

“It’s disappointing, for sure,” Smith said.

“We were definitely invested in seeing this family to its end, which was waddling down to the water’s edge, we had hoped.”

Smith says they’re still waiting to find out whether to call police on the matter or what to do next, but are waiting on phone calls to follow up on the procedure.

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