Rescue
Rescue ducks who have never seen water go for first swim
The way they immediately dive into the water is so sweet.
Rachel Shapiro
09.28.21

Ducks are made to swim.

It’s natural to them, and it’s something they long to do. After all, that’s why we have the saying ‘to take to something like a duck to water,’ which means to naturally be good at something. Ducks are naturally good at swimming, and they should be allowed to swim to their heart’s content.

But a group of ducks was denied that right.

YouTube Screenshot
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YouTube Screenshot

Imagine if you were denied the ability to walk for the rest of your life. That would be a pretty terrible life, wouldn’t it? Well a group of ducks that were recently rescued from a hoarding case by the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in High Falls, New York, were denied the freedom to swim for their whole lives.

When their rescuers brought them out to a pond to swim, no one expected what happened next.

YouTube Screenshot
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YouTube Screenshot

Initially, the ducks elected to stick together as a group — they had never seen water before.

Slowly, but surely, they started heading toward the water. For the brave ducks that went into the water first, they splashed around to “test the waters.” They looked distressed at first, but then they realized that the water was quite nice!

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YouTube Screenshot

It’s wonderful to see how happy these ducks look to be in their natural habitat for the first time in their lives.

To say it was a big day for these ducks would be an understatement!

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YouTube Screenshot

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary answered a few commonly asked questions about the video in the YouTube description.

Many people were curious why the rescuers threw the ducks in rather than letting them find the water on their own. The sanctuary explained:

“There are a number of considerations. It was important to get the new ducks integrated into the flock swiftly because by the end of the day they would be sharing a coop to protect them from nocturnal predators, and so any issues needed to be observed and dealt with if certain ducks were being picked on, etc., so that we could separate them again if necessary. The pond is a safe place for ducks because there are no corners, whereas the pasture perimeter does have corners.”

They also added:

“Last, from many previous experiences we KNEW they would love the water once they were in.”

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YouTube Screenshot

In the YouTube comments, someone imagined the conversation the ducks had when they saw the water:

“OMG did you know we float!?” “I had no idea!!” “This is awesome!!”

We would like to think that’s what the ducks were saying as they finally got to experience their natural habitat. It certainly seems like they’re having the time of their lives in the video.

Check out the video below!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family who love animals, especially ducks.

[Source: Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary]

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