Following my last posting, I was informed about a mother duck with no bill this morning. This is one of the most horrific injuries I have ever seen on a duck in the river. My guess it was caused by an Otter as she was trying to protect her brood. This mother duck had 4 ducklings yesterday but only 3 today, she probably lost her bill whilst trying to defend her youngsters last night.
My priority now is to catch and get her to a vet, and the ducklings into my brooder where I will be able to care for them. I managed to catch one shortly after freeing the swans from fishing line this morning. I have severe bruising to my arms and back, and just to show how dangerous a swan can be if you appear to threaten them or their offspring, I have published the photo of my right arm.
Make no mistake, if this was a child or weak boned person then it would have resulted in a fracture. Worse still is the poor mother duck who will have to be put to sleep, because she will be unable to eat and will starve to death or die from infection This has been a very bad day on the river !
2 comments:
Absolutely horrific, i hope you can catch the poor thing and get it put out of its misery--it must be in agony. Well done again for all your work on the riverbirds, a lovely sight for all to see.
Well Greenleaf, I spent a few hours this evening trying to catch her and her remaining two ducklings. She is so alert and keyed up after the horrible ordeal she has suffered, that I am just not quick enough and she can take off in an instant.
I did however manage to get another one of her ducklings, and with a bit of luck I will get the last one tomorrow. I can't save her, but I can save her offspring that she desperately tried to save and has cost her life. It's pretty awful and sad.
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