It's been roughly a month now since easter. At around 8 in the morning I got my mom to drive me to the small lake/park 2 minutes from our house, to get my duck Sunny some freedom for an hour. As soon as I get there, I see a lady holding a cardboad box and her maybe 8 year old daughter as they walk back to their car. The little girl was balling, while the mom was looking in a hurry. I was curious to what that was about. But as soon as I get the crate out of the car with Sunny in it, the lady glances over with the car window open and says "You too? They're really disgusting animals". (She most likely thought I was getting rid of my duck) I simply said, "Huh?" not having a clue about what she just said. She kinda did the "Ohh..." face without saying a word. Closed her car window, and drove off quickly. I started to get the hint. And rushed my mom over to the lake. And what do ya know? There's two 4 week old pekin ducklings screaming and running aimlessly around the lake shore. My mom doesn't want another duck, one pekin and 5 chickens is enough. But she didn't want to leave knowing 2 ducklings will die from the cold at night. So she said that it was ok if I could capture the ducklings and find a new home. I let sunny out of the crate, and quickly try to coral the little ducklings into it. They were too freaked out, or maybe they just weren't socialized, and quickly dived into the lake and paddled out maybe 30 feet from the shore. I could do nothing. I was willing to stay there as long as I could to try and save these guys, and give them to someone else I trust. But what worried me most is the lake is simply notorious for HUGE softshell turtles. A turtle that's skittish towards humans, but will eat anything that it can chomp into peices. I fish there a lot, and I know for a fact using live bait will catch you a 10 pound softshell every 15 minutes. There's no ducks at this lake for a reason. So after maybe an hour of calling and watching the ducklings float along together, peeping like crazy....my worst fear happened. Yes, it was a turtle. I'm not going to explain the details. But after the first one, the second was gone in another 20 minutes, and I didn't even see it go down. Even my mom couldn't help but cry. I was holding tears back. And it ticks me off that an irresponsible parent would buy some ducklings for easter for their child without doing research, not knowing how big they would get, or don't think about what would happen in a month. I quickly find my duck, Sunny. Give her a little cuddle, and leave. At least Sunny was saved from a nest being attacked by crows. Sorry for venting and a somewhat sad story.
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