Perky the Duck
Duck Me! UPDATE
23-01-2007 | News | Permalink | 1005 views
What would you do if a freshly hunted duck came back to life in your fridge?
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A duck which survived being shot before spending two days in a refrigerator has now overcome major
surgery -despite briefly dying on the operating table.
Florida vets working to repair the gunshot damage to Perky's wing panicked when the duck's heart failed.
But they managed to resuscitate the bird, who shot to fame when she was found alive in the hunter's fridge two days a
being shot.
Perky now has a pin in her wing, but is expected to make a good recovery.
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A duck in the US state of Florida has survived gunshot wounds and a two-day stint in a refrigerator.
A hunter shot the duck, wounding it in the wing and leg.
Believing the bird was dead, he left it in his fridge at his home in Tallahassee.
The hunter's wife got a fright when she opened the fridge and the duck lifted its head, a local veterinarian said.
So, hubby goes out shooting the local widlife to stick in the pot.
One of them survives and it gets whisked off, presumably at great expense, to the vet.
The question that springs to my mind is why bother?
It's hardly going to put up much of a fight so wring it's neck and start chopping oranges.
Apparently it's got a 75% chance of survival so what do you do with it then?
Keep it as a pet?
Not recommended for wildlife.
Set it free so you can have another shot at it?
What would you do?
Pluck it and stuff it?
Give it the gift of life?
Use it as target practise?
http://www.cleverthingies.com/thingie/display/98/Duck+Me!+**UPDATE
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The Duck That Won't Die
'Lazarus' Returns From
The Dead, Again
It's important to keep in mind when reading the
emotion-charged qoutes from vets below that
they are all talking about a duck, not a human
being.
But it is, now, a very famous duck, so perhaps
that played into their reactions as well.
The duck in question was blasted out of the sky by
a hunter last week. His wife packed it into the
freezer, where it remained for two days until the
hunter's wife opened the freezer to find one very
alive duck staring back out at her.
But the story doesn't end there. The duck became
an instant celebrity and was therefore entitled to
top-shelf veterinary care by a team of surgeons
and assistants, who battled to 'pluck' the gun shot
lead from the duck's wounds in a dramatic life-or-
death struggle.
From the BBC :
The ring-neck duck entered surgery with
vets confident that she would survive
the procedure despite serious injuries to
her wing, leg and beak.
But they struggled to fully sedate Perky,
who briefly lost consciousness, said
Susan May, treasurer of the Goose
Creek Animal Sanctuary in Tallahassee.
"The first time she stopped breathing a
quick thump on the chest brought her
back," Ms May told the BBC News
website.
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"But once the surgeon started sewing
her back up she stopped breathing
again, this time for 15 seconds."
When a second thump failed to bring
Perky round, veterinary surgeon David
Hale tried manipulating the duck's beak,
before using a needle to shock her into
consciousness.
At one point the duck was given pure
oxygen through a face mask, Ms May
said.
"At that point the vet turned and
said: 'I'm sorry, she's gone.'"
The room fell into shocked silence as
those present took in the news, but
then Perky raised her head and
began flapping her wings.
The relief reduced everyone to tears,
Ms May said, describing one of her
colleagues as "extremely emotional"
as she left the room.
"For the duck to have gone through all
of this and then to die at that time was
a real shock," Ms May said.
"This duck has taken us all on an
emotional rollercoaster," she said,
adding that Perky has since recovered
well and is staying out of trouble.
Apparently the duck's slow metabolism kept her
alive in the freezer for those 48 hours, with the
sudden change in temperature, when the freezer
door was opened, acting like a wake-up alarm.
The thrice-dead duck now has "volunteers" selling
t-shirts in her honour. They hope to raise enough
money to "provide long-term care for the bird".
No concern, however, is expressed anywhere in
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the story for the hunter who is now one duck
dinner down.
http://planetofstrangethings.blogspot.com/2007/01/duck-that-wont-die-lazarus-returns-from.... 452007
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