Philip Garner, 67, and his wife Julia, 66, with the duck they rescued, Freda, and her 11 ducklings.Photo:swns
swns
Elephants never forget, and neither does Freda the duck.
The couple decided to hand-rear the helpless duckling and named her Freda. Freda enjoyed the pampering and care the Garners provided for over a year, growing into a healthy adult duck.
Then, in October 2022, Freda flew the coop. The bird decided to return to the wild, and the Garners supported it.
“It was a bit sad when Freda first went,” Phil told SWNS.
“But in the back of my mind, I was expecting her to come back because we were told that they imprint on you for life,” he added.
Freda the duck with her 11 ducklings.swns
Phil’s suspicions proved correct. This spring, Freda strolled up the Garners' driveway with 11 ducklings waddling behind her.
The feathered family quickly made themselves comfortable in the Garners' garden, so the couple decided to look after all the birds.
“Going from one duckling to 11 was chaos,” Phil said
“They need to swim, they need to wash themselves. So we’ve got tubs everywhere. The garden looks like a bomb site, but I’m not bothered.”
Phil and Freda formed a strong bond during the duck’s first stay with the Garners.
“She would sit on my shoulder and on my table while I was doing my computer work. She was that loving,” Phil said of how close he and Freda became.
Julia sees Freda as Phil’s “guardian angel” because when her husband first found the bird, he was in the midst of treatment for bladder cancer, which included three operations.
“Freda helped him through it,” Julia told SWNS.
Phil and Julia Garner feeding Freda the duck and her 11 ducklings at the couple’s home in England.swns
So now Phil and Julia are hosting Freda and her family until they are ready to move on.
“We expect her to fly off and go back to where she was before, and the ducklings will just follow her and do their own thing,” Phil said.
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If Freda and her ducklings don’t depart after a few months, the couple plans to relocate the birds to a local fenced park with a pond, where the ducks will be protected from predators and have access to food and water.
source: people.com
