I saved a duck!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Darin115]

It has been so long since I have been on here but as soon as the events unfolded yesterday I thought I have to post it on BYC!!!!

We have a neighbor with a small pond in his backyard. It is fenced in but he never shuts the gate. He bought some ducks. Big white ducks and some mallard looking ducks. Well one hen (if that is what a female duck is) hatched out 11 chicks. She prances them all over the place. They visit my yard most of the day eating grass and waiting for my garden to get ready. I am sure they will destroy it. But I will worry about that later.

Anyway the owner does not feed the ducks anything. So I had a bag of cob corn left over from deer season and I have been shelling it and feeding them every evening when I get home. So now they wait for me. The secret got out and now the big white ducks and the other female mallard looking ducks come with them. So yesterday I drive up and there is a flock of ducks in my yard waiting on my arrival. They greet me at my truck as I get out. I went inside and headed to the basement where I keep the corn.

I come out the basement door and holler for them. My wife hollers for me to come up there one of them has something on it's neck. I get up there and it has a six pack plastic thing around it's neck. I shell some of the corn and when it eats it chokes because the corn coudl not get past the plastic ring that is around it's neck. It is frantic to get it off but can't. My wife says it is going to die if you don't do something.

So with my zero experience with big white ducks, and not knowing if I am going to be attacked when I grab it, I put a little corn at my feet and when they all come close to eat I try to grab it. It took a few times before I got it. I tucked her under my shoulder until she calmed down. I then broke the plastic ring off her neck. She immediately calmed down. Well my kids are amazed and my inlaws was watching the entire thing. Everyone came up to see the lucky duck. I fed her corn out of my hand for a long time. She got used to being held and loves to eat out of your hand. My wife said you should have marked her so you can tell her from the other white ducks. I said there is no need in that. I put some corn in my hands and here she comes running to eat it. The others shy away from my hand but she has no fear of me. She won't have anything to do with anyone else but she seams to know that I saved her life.

Well, that is my duck story. I have some pictures on a cell phone but have no clue how to post them.

Darin

 

[coloradochick]

Great story Darin! Always good to hear of a save

And I just have to smile when I picture them all waiting for you when you get home

I just love ducks

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Now THAT rocks!

Rusty

 

[AKsmama]

Great job! I am glad you saved that duck!

This is not the first story I have heard about ducks/waterbirds with plastic six-pack rings around their necks. I always cut the rings on mine before I throw them away, even the tiny holes in the middle.

 

[Matthew3590]

Way to save the day!!

 

[NYRIR]

Really cool story

 

[thekid]

 

[Laurajean]

That's a great story! So proud and happy you saved the duck!

I have a similar story, although my story has a kind of weird twist. Last Spring I had some thin deer netting around a garden box in my yard. One day I was sitting in my home office, on the other side of the house from the garden bed. Suddenly I had the strangest feeling, it's so hard to describe. I felt a choking feeling, and even though I could feel it, at the same time I had a fear for someone/something else. I jumped up and ran out on the front porch, looking around for what I had no clue. I didn't see anything. I ran through the house and out onto the back deck, where again, I looked around in a strange sense of panic. Then I saw it. A little chipmunk had gotten himself horribly caught up in the deer netting and was strangling and struggling. Panicked, I ran back in the house, grabbed thick rubber gloves and scissors and ran out to the chipmunk. I was very nervous he would bite me, but it quickly became obvious he couldn't if he wanted to, he was barely breathing, his little mouth was open and his tongue was sticking out.

I got rid of the thick gloves, because they were only in my way, and started carefully but quickly cutting through the netting. Amazingly, he stopped struggling and held still for me. It seemed like forever, cutting, turning him, cutting, etc. His whole body was tangled in it, legs, and neck. I cut around his legs first, because I knew that once I cut his neck out he would run and I wanted to make sure it was all off. Gradually I cut through several layers of the netting around his neck (he had obviously spun around in the struggle and it was wrapped TIGHT). I was so afraid I was going to slice his tiny neck, the fear of getting bit long forgotten. Last snip, finally, he was free. He sat there, regaining breath, in shock for a good 5 minutes. I sat there with him. He had a deep mark around his neck, not in the skin, but the fur, from the netting being there. I have no idea how long he was stuck before I found him.

Finally he kind of snapped out of it, and *walked* not ran, over to the rock wall. He went in a hole, then came back out, sat on the rock and just stared at me. It might sound silly, but I got a true sense that he knew I just saved him and was grateful. I went back inside and was thoroughly exhausted, mainly from the stress and panic that was now suddenly over. In the days that followed, I'd be out in the garden (where I got rid of that netting by the way), and I'd see random chipmunks run into their holes. There was one that would always just sit on the rock and watch or do his thing, and didn't seem scared of me. Like the OP and the duck, I think it was him. I don't know, but I think so, based on his relaxed demeanor around me.

And yes, the strange part of the story is the bizarre sense of choking and panic I got inside the house before discovering him. I've had some premonition type things happen before, but this was outright bizarre. It's like I felt a choking feeling, yet I KNEW it wasn't me, but someone or something else. And I cannot explain why I went searching in the yard either. It's like I just knew to look, very strange.

So happy to read your lovely duck story, really made me smile. It's a great feeling to save an animal, isn't it? They bring such happiness and innocence, it's a nice feeling to give back.