Doing Bird by Martin Gurdon

Author:Martin Gurdon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780333984
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

AUTUMN

GETTING LEGLESS

As the baby duck matured its reluctance to use its legs seemed to be getting worse, but little did we realize that another duck with walking problems would soon be taking up a lot of our time.

I was driving back from a day spent working in London when my mobile rang.

‘It’s Pancake,’ said Jane. ‘I think she’s broken her leg.’

How this had happened was a mystery, but my wife had returned to find the bird hauling herself round with one leg, the other flopping uselessly. Both of them were distressed by the situation, and an attempt at catching Pancake caused her to stagger into the water, where she swam in circles.

By the time I stepped out of the car it was nearly dark. Pancake had reluctantly come out of the pond, and Jane had managed to catch and confine her in the old, Dalek-shaped duckhouse.

We decided to get her to the vet as soon as we could the following morning, reasoning that she was stressed enough as it was. Early the next morning, I got in touch with the vet and made an appointment, fetched the cat carrier, and gingerly opened up the Dalek. The thrashing and thumping noises coming from inside were an indication that the Pancake was highly agitated, a situation made worse by my reaching in and wrapping large, clumsy hands round her dry, twisting body.

Although fully grown, she felt sleek, very young, and hotter than I would have liked.

‘Come on, come on. It’s all right, come on,’ I said, in a useless attempt at soothing. Her right leg kicked as she tried to prise off my fingers with small, hooked claws. The left leg hung down, useless and floppy.

Lowering the bird into the carrier, I secured the lid and covered it with a blanket, and was pleased when the bird fell silent. As I walked away the other three ducks crowded by the fence to watch us go.

‘It’s not good,’ said the vet, as we examined the X-rays of Pancake’s leg.

What we saw looked like a splintered twig. ‘I’m worried she’s damaged some nerves too, because the leg seems completely inert.’

We discussed the options, which included putting the duck down, or trying to splint her leg and see whether the bone would knit and the nerves repair. Although the circumstances were different, the situation reminded me of the fox attack and Lewd the chicken. Once again I was confronted with a young bird that hadn’t been with us for very long, was now injured, and had an uncertain future.

What made it worse was that Pancake had been the tamest of our ducks, keen to feed from our hands, and trundled happily after us when we visited. Now she was completely freaked out. Not a good start for a bird that was so young she’d yet to lay an egg.

‘Do you think it’s worth trying to do something to fix her leg?’ I asked the vet.

‘It’s always worth trying, but you’ll have to leave her with us – and if she does come home she’ll need to be kept apart from the others.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.