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Langley farm hosts lost ducklings

No one has come forward to claim the missing ducks.
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Julie Delisle with some of the 190 ducklings that she is looking after. They were found by the side of the road in Abbotsford.

Julie Delisle has 190 fluffy golden mysteries in the barns of her South Langley hobby farm.

Delisle is fostering ducklings that were rescued from the side of the road in Abbotsford earlier this month.

The 194 ducklings were discovered Nov. 11 by the side of the road, near the Abbotsford Tradex and the airport.

“They were huddling up near a fence,” Delisle said.

They were with the remains of a couple of boxes, and appeared to have been in the process of being shipped, likely to a local farm.

At some point, they may have literally fallen off the back of a truck.

The Abbotsford SPCA took in the ducklings, but didn’t have the facilities to look after so many of them. They placed an emergency call to Delisle, who had offered before to foster any seized farm animals.

“Can you take in about 100 ducks?” That was what the original phone call asked, Delisle said.

But she got almost twice that many.

Despite the fact that they appear to have fallen off a vehicle, and spent an unknown amount of time on the side of the road, the ducklings are doing fairly well.

Four did not survive, and three more are getting special care, but the bulk of them are in good health.

In fact, they’ve already doubled in size since Delisle took them in.

“They grow so fast,” she said.

There are few clues as to who owned the ducks, or why they never came looking for them.

The birds appear to be Muscovy ducks, which is not the most common species on local farms.

They may have been flown in to Abbotsford just after being hatched, Delisle said. They were so newly hatched that some still had their egg-teeth on their bills.

They aren’t individually valuable, but at around $5 each, they amount to nearly $1,000 worth of lost property, Delisle said.

Right now, the SPCA and Delisle are hoping that some farmers will step up and take in the ducklings.

“It’s going to be a lot of people to re-home this many ducks,” she said.

Most small hobby farmers just don’t have the space or facilities to deal with 190 ducklings, said Delisle.



Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in Langley, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
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