One Ducks experience at the AARK before, during and after (99'). . . . . .
Early summer . . . . the newhopepa.com canine was being walked on the tow path near Pt Pleasant. He has an exceptional sniffer and located a hatchling duck stuck in the mud on the canal floor. Only it's head (which had the skin peeled back) was sticking out. After backing away for an hour to see if it's parent was returning, we scouped up the hatchling and drove it to the AARK. We were given an ID number (if we wanted to call later and see how it was doing). Several weeks later, we went to call but had lost the ID number. Some months later the AARK newletter appeared in the mailbox, which included the following article:

Best Buddies...
The story of a common merganser and his pal.
by: Mary Jane Stretch - AARK Foundation
We don't usually name animals at the Aark, unless they are part of the educational program. We even try to maintain a professional distance from our patients, so we can provide the proper care and treatment without getting our emotions involved in the decisions. But this summer we all fell In love with "Ganser" and his pal, "Woodie." It all started when the volunteer on duty came rushing in to me with a creature wrapped in a towel, questioning what on earth she was holding. I opened the towel to find a nearly unconscious hatchling common merganser. He was maybe two days old and the skin on his head was peeled back, exposing the skull. Most adult animals could not survive this kind of trauma, let alone a two day old baby. He was able to walk around and he was showing very little sign of shock. His head was so tiny, and the skin was ripped off in such a way that stitching the injury was out of the question. I opted to clean and treat the wound without stitching and with a little luck, he would make it, His growth was slowed down somewhat because of his injury and trauma, so we had to keep changing his pen-mates. First we qame him some tiny baby mallards. They quickly became too big and aggressive for him so we moved them out and some more tiny mallards in. This continued on for a while. Shortly after the arrival of the common merganser, a wood duck was admitted. He was found alone in someone's yard, but had no apparent injuries. He was newly hatched. Wood ducks are a difficult species to keep alive. First, they need siblings. When they are raised alone they get depressed and die. Second, they are escape artists and they can climb. Lastly, they have slightly different nutritional needs than mallards, so keeping them with the mallards can be tricky. Since the merganser was eating meal worms and small minnows right out of our hands at that point, we decided to put the wood duck and the merganser together. Wood ducks also eat meal worms and minnows. The mallards came and went, but "Ganser" and "Woodie" stayed together. In fact, they became so close that whenever they were separated, they would frantically search for one another until they were together again. They even slept curled up together. This story does have a happy ending. Ganser and Woodie were released together on July 25,1999 on a pond where the people put out plenty of good food and will watch over them as long as they need to live there. Last time I called, they were both doing fine and they were still together.
Our thanks to the AARK!

Back