Ducks have great problem-solving skills, keen memories, the ability to learn from their environment and even each other.
Kissy Suzuki, Miss Moneypenny and Christmas Jones
Kissy Suzuki, Miss Moneypenny and Christmas Jones were dumped in a
small and busy parkland outside of Melbourne. Making that crime even
more egregious was the fact that the area was shared by an off-leash
dog park.
Perhaps being Easter ducklings whose novelty had worn off was what
caused these young girls to fall fowl of human kindness—we shall
never know. But what we do is that the lot of dumped domestic ducks
rarely ends well.
Kissy Suzuki, Miss Moneypenny and Christmas Jones
Although these are Muscovy ducks, which have limited flight, most
domestic ducks do not even have that. Earthbound, they find
themselves in a world where predators are many, yet food provisions
are few. Even kindly humans who try to feed these hapless animals,
and do so with the best of intentions, often feed them foods that
they should not, such as bread, lettuce and junk food.
Healthy domestic ducks kept in kindness and raised with love and
knowledge, look forward to a life expectancy of around 10–12
years, while dumped ducks, it is reported, rarely make it to 3. The
odds greatly reduce if the animals are abandoned as downy ducklings.
Ducks generally do not come to mind when one thinks of intelligent
species, nor are they often mentioned when one is asked to name
their favourite pet, yet they can easily fit both of these
categories.
Take the time to get to know them, and you will see they have great
problem-solving skills, keen memories, the ability to learn from
their environment and even each other, and can make awesome best
friends if you pass their friendship test. They are best kept in
numbers of three or more, but only one drake if those numbers are
few.
Idling one’s time watching chatty and cheery ducks industriously go
about their day can be very cathartic indeed. It’s rich fodder, too,
to remind one that it’s time for us humans to get all our ducks in a
row and make a kinder world for them.
How? Dump animal cruelty—not ducks!