Molly the Mallard

We have temporarily welcomed a new member into our family! I was conned into taking care of an orphaned baby duck by one of my students (and her mom who works with me). The baby duck has a twisted foot and we were told by all the animal rescue places, that they put ducks down with messed up feet.. so depressing, I know. So here is our new animal baby. This is Molly, our baby Mallard.

Our plan is to try and raise her (It's too early to tell if it's even a her..but if we find out it's a boy later on it will still be Molly boy) in hopes that she will survive. They say a lot of ducks with broken feet don't make it but we are hoping to change that! Her foot doesn't look entirely broken, but maybe just twisted. She can move it, swim with it, and walk a little on it. I spent half the day researching baby duck care, learning what to feed her, and  learning how to provide her everything she needs.

Notice in the picture above Hunter and Joey watching her. Joey has met her but Hunter would make her his mid day snack. They won't be meeting except through her cage. 

She is a great little swimmer! 

So for now, all we can do is hope. Hope that she makes it and gets big enough to possibly be released into a pond by my work. There are lots of other Mallards so maybe they can adopt her into a family if she survives. If that doesn't work, maybe she will become an official Marcus? I don't think Tim reads my blog..if so..uhh hi Tim! Till then, pray for baby Molly and that she makes it!