A couple who moved to Marion last summer and were granted permission via a revised city ordinance to keep ducks for eggs have decided to move to Wichita, where the husband, Jason Ivy, has a job at the Hilton Inn.

His friend, Chris Ramey of Marion, has taken the five ducks and added them to his collection of exotic animals at 310 S. Grant St. “They are getting rid of everything,” Ramey said.

Ivy had been employed at Barkman Honey Company, and the family had no intention of moving. However, financial difficulties and his wife’s health issues led Ivy to seek a better-paying job to provide for his family. “He’s a good family man,” Ramey said.

Ivy has been living with his parents in Wichita and comes home about once every two weeks, his friend said. His wife is pregnant with their fourth child and could not take care of their three young children and the ducks by herself.

“They’re not a nuisance,” Ramey’s live-in girlfriend, Janae Wiebe, said. “I take care of them. We lock them up at night, and we eat the duck eggs. They are more nutritious than chicken eggs.”

Neighbor Lucille Bitner was upset that the city had gone through the effort and expense of rewriting an ordinance to accommodate a couple only to have them move away.

“That’s what irritated me,” she said.

She and her husband don’t mind having the ducks next door, although when they let their dog out, his persistent barking at the ducks can be annoying.