duck overload (warning: graphic pix)
so i have a few ducks....
(left to right (in water)... Twitch, Marsha, Three.
(on land) Deacon and Abby.
(although i lost the little brown female Abby, last week. eggbound...:( )
then i went to the Northern Berks Pennsylvania Reptile Show last month and found little Flotsam and Jetsam (yes, at a REPTILE show... go figure!) and took them back to the zoo...
handsome little devils, ain't they??
indian runners... they will be long and tall believe it or not.
lol.
and then i get a call last week... a rescue in need of a home. she is Three's sister... came from the same farm. and i was told she was beginning to exhibit the same symptoms as Three (he is crippled with a degenerative arthritic issue) and would i please come get her as i have done wonders with Three.... and this is what i found:
say hello to Four.
i was not prepared to see the mess that was her head. the above happens to be her "good side".
get a load of this side:
yes, you are seeing this right. no eye.
nada.
gone.
total mess.
farm animals are just that, aren't they?
not pets.
this is a very hard concept for me, as i have never lived on a real, working farm that relies on it's animals for profit and/or product.
i am not dissing farms or their folk, but merely stating that this is a very different way of life, one that i have not been privy to.
i do believe i would have just melted into a blubbering heap to the floor (never to get up again) if i had been raised on a real, honest to goodness farm.
as it is i got all teary eyed just loading this poor girl into a carrier and taking her home.
i am happy to announce she is now pretty much infection free. (but eyeless on her left side)
it's amazing what a good long soak in a pond can do for a duck!!
believe it or not i am not mad at the woman who had this duck originally. because she cared enough to reach out to me to come get it. she could have just as easily just shot or drowned the duck.
*shudder*
i mean it when i say i am not prejudiced in the least... i'm just overwhelmed and sad.
yet optimistic as Four has really taken to my flock.
then...
i get a call today.
from the same woman.
her duck flock was attacked last night and they are all gone.
all but one bloodied male.
and would i mind....
*grabs carrier yet again and heads for truck*