Get ready for your Grinch heart to grow three sizes.
A pair of injured, lovesick mallard ducks will be spending their winter together at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute after refusing to leave each other’s sides.
Earlier this winter, a resident in a suburban Moncton community noticed the two ducks lying side by side in her backyard. The female duck had an injured wing and was unable to fly, so the male duck stayed by her side. At some point, while protecting the female, the male duck also injured his own wing.
The resident then caught both ducks and brought them to the sanctuary in Cookville, NB, where they’ll recover from their injuries.
“[Mallard ducks] have these very strong pair bonds and they mate for life,” said Pam Novack of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute to the CBC. “These two birds would not leave each other and he tried to keep protecting her.” The ducks have since been named Fred and Ethel.
Although the AWI is unsure if the mallards will suffer from long-term consequences from the wing injuries, they will are ensuring the two lovebirds will stay together.
“They feed and bathe together…they’re inseparable, truly inseparable,” says Novack. “They’ve tried so hard to try and survive and keep other together and stuff so it’s what we can do to help.”
