When Merry (the Mallard) and Pippin (the Muscovy) came to us, they both had physical issues. Pippin’s was obvious, though we weren’t sure of the cause. His neck folded over on itself to his right while his tail turned to his left. He could walk and eat just fine, but he tired quickly because it took extra effort to hold his neck up. He hadn’t had much opportunity to walk around, so we hoped that with a little time and exercise, he’d gain more strength. He had to be supervised 100% of the time when he was in water, because he couldn’t really swim or keep his head above water.
Merry had recovered from a terribly broken leg. The rehabber who treated him was pretty sure he’d been attacked by a turtle, which is common with ducks. He was missing all of his tail feathers, and his cloaca (the part of the body on a bird through which poop passes, among other things) was in the wrong location. Normally, a duck’s cloaca is underneath its body just before its tail begins. Merry’s was at the very end of his body. Because of this, every time he went to the bathroom, it sprayed four feet to his right.
Most people would have euthanized these ducklings, thinking their quality of life would be diminished because of their limitations. We wanted to give them a chance, however, and after watching these two happily explore, chatting all the while in spite of their different languages, I can assure you that they are both very happy ducks!