Check out our newest arrival Pecan the Pekin Duck. We received a call for help when Pecans mate was taken by a predator leaving this girl alone and terrified. Our last Pekin Duck arrival, Little Sally, suffered the same fate as her two flock mates were taken by river otters. All to often we are quick to blame our wild neighbors when they take a pet but truthfully the fault is ours. Life in nature can be difficult so when we as owners fail to provide adequate housing and security for our animals especially when the area is known to have abundant wildlife the fault is ours if a predator takes it. It is merely survival for our wildlife neighbors. There was a rush to get Pecan out of her old home and into a new one because once a predator finds a food source like it did with Pecans mate, you can be assured it will be back until that food source is gone. After which time it will move on. Pecans former home backed up to conservation land and a large pond. The former owners mistakenly thought they were giving their two pets freedom to roam and enjoy life but what they really did was make them food. If you look closely you will notice Pecan is missing a piece of her bill on the right side. This happened prior to the attack on her mate. My guess is she was bitten by a turtle while feeding in the pond. I am not a fan of allowing Pekin ducks access to large ponds. First of all it is illegal to release domestic ducks into the wild. Although technically they were not released they were allowed to venture into conservation land which is home to wildlife. Pekins are heavy bodied ducks that are unable to fly making escape from a predator virtually impossible. Our rescue constantly gets calls asking us to help rescue Pekins that are dumped on a pond. Personally I love Pekins but they are messy and poop a lot. They are adorable little babies that grow quickly and tend to lose their appeal as a pet. Although this was not the case with Pecan and her mate impulsive buying and lack of knowledge about the animal makes them a victim of an attitude that is all too prevalent in our society that the animal is disposable. Pecan is far less frantic than the day of the attack but she has some adjustments to make as she finds herself at a new home without her mate. Initially, I put her in with our newest arrivals Irene, Emily and Little Sally. Irene is a very dominant duck as you may remember she backed two of our boys, Ping and Napolean, into a corner and wouldnt let them out. Pecan is dominant as well so there was a fair amount of pushing and shoveling between these two girls. It was scaring our two younger ducks Emily and Sally so Pecan was temporarily pulled from that pen until I have time to work on safely introducing them. Until then Pecan has her own pen where she can meet her new Barnyard neighbors and safely settle in to her new surroundings........ Enjoy your day!
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 10:25:08 +0000