What happened to the ducks at the Palm Desert park???

I headed out this morning with my backup Nikon because hubby needed my Canon camera today.  I didn't wish to drive up the mountain to visit my horses.  I did that yesterday.  They are all shedding their winter coats!  I'll need to brush, brush, brush them next weekend!  So, instead, I drove over to our local park and boy, was I surprised.  Instead of seeing lots and lots of ducks, I only saw a couple dozen!  And only  2 mudhens!  WWWHHHAAATTTT?????  I did count about 10 of the white ducks (they don't fly off) and I saw my little guy with a topknot who was there last year, but NO (zero) Canadian geese.  The geese have already left.  I've heard them honking on their way back to their northern homes.  I did some research online and the city isn't admitting to anything except to discourage the public from feeding the ducks.  And, as of June, you will ONLY be allowed to buy pellets at the park and you'll have to pay $0.25 for a handfull of pellets.  WELL!  It was a real shocker!

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130321/LIFESTYLES/303210022/Quit-feeding-ducks-into-complacency-Civic-Center-Park-Palm-Desert-City-Council-warns?fb_action_ids=471707516233607&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=artsharetop&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

I don't read The Desert Sun (we call it "The Desert Rag") because, well, frankly, it IS a rag.  It's a waste of a newspaper and is only good for lining the cat litter box (in my humble opinion)!

I guess the city's "discouragement" plan worked because the park was nearly devoid of ducks...sigh...