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The call went out on the radio for volunteers to come to the Humane Society and help with a duck disaster. A local factory had accidentally spilled diesel oil into a stream that runs through the center of our town. It's a beautiful stream that winds its way through the University grounds and many business and residential neighborhoods. It's also home to many, many ducks and geese. My husband and I and our two young sons arrived at the shelter within minutes and were immediately put to work providing two basics for any injured waterfowl.

1. Cleanliness. Each bird was bathed and rinsed to remove the oil residues from their feathers. They were also dosed with an antibiotic as a preventive for infection.

2. Warmth without the natural oil on their feathers, ducks become rapidly chilled. Our sons, along with dozens of other volunteers, sat in the waiting room cradling ducks in warmed towels. When they were thoroughly dry, they were put in dry pens with water to drink (but not to swim in) and food.

Although many of the ducks died from their ingestion of oil, the majority survived, testament to the quick work of volunteers.

My second encounter with caring for an injured duck came later that same year when two Pit Bulls several blocks away escaped through a garage window. The owner had been fighting them; each was covered with scars. They made their way along our rural lane, killing animals as they went. Before they came to our house, they killed the two Australian Shepherds next door to us. I was in the kitchen and heard a huge commotion and ran outside. Wilbur, our pet Muscovy duck was valiantly defending his three females against the attacks of the male dog. Ignorant of the risk to myself, I ran into the fray with a broom and luckily the dog retreated as he was quite people friendly. I grabbed bloody Wilbur and his "wives" and took them to our basement. After animal control came and took the dogs away, we got busy assessing Wilbur's injures. He had several bites but fortunately none of them was deep. We treated the cuts with iodine and made a warm nesting area for all four ducks in our basement. The females were unharmed and went outside the next day, but Wilbur remained inside for two weeks until his wounds healed and he seemed back to his normal self.

Sometimes, a duck will break a wing. With the help of a veterinarian or bird rehab expert, it can often be splinted to support it while it heals. Be aware though that the wing may never be fully functional. A wild bird should NEVER be re-released to the wild unless you are positive it has normal flight capabilities. If the injury is permanent, either keep it as a pet yourself or contact one of the many wild bird sanctuaries your humane society will have contact information for places in your area. If a bird breaks a leg, it also may be able to splinted, although the results are less hopeful as the injury will be forced to bear weight. If it does not heal, you can consider keeping the bird as a pet in a safe confine with perhaps a mobility aid. This is also a time to seriously consider euthanasia if the animal is going to be forced to have a severely limited lifestyle.

Ducks make wonderful pets and wild ducks are a joy to behold. We live on the 45th parallel which means that this time of year; the skies are full of migrating ducks and geese. We rejoice in their honks and quacks and wish them safe flight, but if one of them comes into our care, we'll do our best to help.

Learn more about this author, Cynthia Wall.
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