Rejected duck stops quacking
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00:00 She was found in a park in New York City in a parking lot,
00:03 left there without the people that she knew.
00:06 My name is Mary and this is Freddie's story for GOBs.
00:09 I'm a wildlife rehabber.
00:11 Animal Care and Control dropped Freddie off to us.
00:13 All right, she's here.
00:14 She came in a box and I opened the box.
00:16 She's not in great shape here.
00:18 I could not believe what this duck looked like.
00:20 She was covered in tar.
00:22 It was rock hard, like glue on her head.
00:24 I just looked at her and I said,
00:26 how am I gonna help this duck?
00:28 I really had no clue.
00:30 People buy them as impulse buys
00:31 and they grow very quickly and so people,
00:34 oh, we can't take care of this animal anymore.
00:36 And then they will dump them.
00:37 She's not dunking her head.
00:39 She couldn't even bend her head to drink water.
00:41 When we brought her to the vet and they did x-rays,
00:43 we found that she swallowed three pennies, a dime,
00:46 piece of jewelry, and a piece of glass.
00:49 So that's how hungry she probably was.
00:51 Wherever she was digging, just picking up anything to eat.
00:54 This is what she ate.
00:55 She had the endoscopy where they pull,
00:57 able to pull out all the coins and the metal pieces.
01:00 A bead, a piece of glass.
01:03 This coin is completely worn down.
01:05 The vet also thinks maybe she stuck her head in trash
01:08 and there was tar or some substance in there
01:10 and she got covered that way.
01:12 The vet suggested spot cleaning at first around her head.
01:15 Trying to wipe some of this out.
01:17 When she got stronger, we could do a dawn bath,
01:20 which took three people and a series of tubs
01:23 with different concentrations of water and the temperature.
01:26 She's much more animated.
01:27 It was quite a production with a lot of people
01:30 involved to help her.
01:31 Look at how clean and shiny they are.
01:35 So her dawn bath really helped her.
01:37 She started to move around more.
01:41 She was eating more.
01:42 She was fluffing up her feathers.
01:44 You got a lot to say today.
01:46 You yelling at me for your breakfast, Freddy?
01:49 Okay, it's coming.
01:50 Her whole demeanor had changed.
01:51 Are you hungry, Crap-Crap?
01:56 Yes.
01:57 When we brought her back to the vet after that,
02:00 he couldn't believe it.
02:01 He was just like, wow, this is a different duck.
02:02 You want some pellets?
02:04 Especially in the bathtub, when we first put her in,
02:08 she would just kind of sit there afloat
02:10 or not know what to do.
02:11 We don't think she had any access to water to bathe at all.
02:15 And so when she finally got that chance to be in water
02:18 and she realized that she was a duck,
02:20 it was a different story.
02:21 You're a duck and you can swim.
02:24 Yay.
02:25 Yay.
02:27 Compared to the day she was brought to us,
02:28 her eyes literally sparkle.
02:30 You're pretty.
02:31 Want to go in the water?
02:33 Get out.
02:34 She's like this big, joyful, fluffy cloud.
02:37 And my husband calls her a princess.
02:39 So, yes, you're a princess.
02:41 We didn't name her.
02:42 The animal care and control named her Fred.
02:45 They thought she was a male.
02:46 Male ducks don't quack, but females quack very loudly.
02:48 (duck quacking)
02:52 So when we heard Freddy quacking, we went, that's a girl.
02:54 So we'll just call her Freddy.
02:55 She knows I'm taking care of her
02:57 and she'll quack when I leave the room.
02:59 Freddy.
02:59 She knows her name.
03:00 If you call Freddy, Freddy, Fred, Fred, Fred.
03:04 You call her, she's quacking.
03:05 Freddy.
03:06 We think she's really wanting a boyfriend right now.
03:09 When we brought her to a prospective home,
03:12 there was a male there and she ignored the females
03:14 and went straight to the male who was already spoken for.
03:17 You're not gonna be left alone again, don't worry.
03:19 We are looking for a home, but it has to be the right home.
03:21 And if we don't find that home,
03:23 then she's welcome to stay here with us.
03:25 This could be her forever home.
03:27 I promise you, okay?
03:30 She's a real miracle.
03:31 I mean, we've seen some tough cases,
03:33 but she was the toughest case
03:34 that we didn't think she'd bounce back.
03:36 But I think she realizes people love her
03:39 in her own little duck way.
03:40 Right, Fred?
03:42 Yeah.
03:42 (gentle music)
03:45 [Music]