The Saturday before Easter 2021, I was scrolling through the stories on my work Instagram account, something I never do. And I came across the news that a former client had been alerted to three dumped duck at the lake beside their home. These people are duck lovers, and I assumed that they would rescue the ducks, but beyond throwing some feed to them, they seemed disinterested in the effort it would take to secure them.

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Domestic ducks cannot, cannot, cannot, survive in the wild. They are bred to be too heavy to fly, so if they somehow survive a summer without predation, they're doomed to starve when winter comes and they're frozen off the water.

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Armed with advice from a woman who rescues hundreds of dumped domestic waterfowl from Central Park each year, a pair of hip waders, a crate, and a Premier 1 fence to use as a net, we set out on Easter morning to find these ducks. They were sleeping on a raised bank beside the lake, and the short version of the story is that four hours later, we had them in our car headed to their new home. 

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Ponyboy, the smallest, was sometimes disoriented and often bullied by his brothers, a common behavior in mating season, which lasts four to five months. When given his own sleeping quarters with extra food and water for a couple months, he caught up to his brothers and was still able to be with them during the day, which was crucial to his emotional wellbeing, as ducks belong in flocks and not alone. Today, the Curtis brothers roam the pig pasture by day and sleep in a house beside their pig friend Beatrice at night. They are deeply bonded, are in constant conversation all day long, and love to swim in their pool regardless of the weather. They are capable of joy, they love each other deeply, and while they deserved better than being dumped for a fox to find, we think they found the happy ending they deserve.