Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers

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The Story of Loopy and Scapey

Wood Duck (aka Maned Duck)

A Wood duckling was taken one night to the Coolangatta police station. It was a few days old. One of the policemen took it home to Condong and his wife brought it to me.

When I first saw the duckling it was cold, shivering and unable to maintain its balance. Its head kept rolling onto its back. I suspected a head injury or some kind of neurological damage. It was too late in the day to get to the vets to have it euthanased, so I warmed it, weighed it (28gm), gave it fluids and let it rest.

Its condition improved over the following day. It was eating well and wasn't rolling around quite so alarmingly. That afternoon I was astonished when it weighed in at 36gm! The poor little creature must have been desperately dehydrated and starving when I got it. The day after that its weight had jumped to 44gm and it continued to increase reassuringly.

Three days after this little fellow came in, another Wood duckling, a bit bigger, arrived. I put them together initially but had to separate them as the larger one started pecking poor little "Loopy". A sneaky thing that can be done to ducklings is to introduce a new one after dark. This is what I did with these two. They snuggled up, went to sleep and by morning they were bonded. The new duckling became "Scapey", because if I didn't keep my wits about me, he was out of the box and off.
Loopy's seizures worried me; the act of tilting his head back to drink seemed to set him off and he'd roll around for a few seconds. I kept his food moist, as eating was less of a problem and I wanted to be sure he was hydrated. As far as I could tell he wasn't in pain; once the fits were over he'd go on doing whatever he'd been up to beforehand.

I took him to the vet, thinking I had to bite the bullet and have him euthanased. The vet thought it might be a vestibular problem caused by infection and ordered seven days of antibiotics. So, another week's grace.

Meanwhile, of course, he and Scapey were inseparable and he was becoming disconcertingly tame. They were old enough to go out into the sun for a while during the day and both played in a shallow dish of water in their container. I worried that Scapey was escaping because Loopy's fits were freaking him out but realized later that it wasn't the case. Scapey was a born explorer and seized any opportunity that presented itself.

Some time later I gave them a bigger water dish. I checked them after a while and to my horror found Loopy in the dish, on his back, soaking wet. I pulled him out, dried him off and put them both into the sun, then hunted around to find a dish that would give Scapey the opportunity to splash around but still allow Loopy to get out.

Loopy's fits continued. He'd have good days and I would think that he was recovering, but as he grew, or rather failed to grow, I realized that there was something else going on. His head lay at an extraordinary angle over his back and he looked like a little avian Quasimodo. He had a scoliosis of the spine. An additional problem was that by now he and Scapey were so bonded, that I felt they needed to stay together, at least until Scapey could be released.

In time three more ducklings came into my care. I introduced them gradually to the other two by having their enclosure set up so that they could see each other without physical contact, then later removed the barrier. The three new ducklings were a bit older and initially tried to bully Loopy. Scapey wasn't having any of it. He would confront and drive off any of the other three if they started to get rough. Scapey was smaller than any of them, but fierce in his friend's defence. The others soon got the message and the five became a little flock.

Eventually Loopy had to be euthanased; there was no chance of release, obviously and the fits were becoming more prolonged and frequent. I hope I was able to make his short life a happy one; his experience certainly included affection, in the bond between himself and Scapey and whether he knew it or not, he was the recipient of love from me.