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Rescued ducks experience water for first time

Neglected Ducks Get Their First Swim
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Ryan Dunfee October 8, 2012
Rescued ducks experience water for first time in amusing video

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David Strege October 7, 2012
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Monday, October 8, 2012 9:55am PDT
Rescued ducks experience water for first time in amusing video
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
You can lead neglected ducks to water, but you can't make them swim. That seemed to be the case, initially anyway, with dozens of waterfowl in a video that has gone viral during the past few days (posted below). These ducks, rescued victims of a hoarding case, had never experienced water and were gently coaxed into a small pond by their rescuers. As viewers can see, the birds eventually realized that taking a bath, or a leisurely swim, is one of life's great pleasures.



The birds are among 160 ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens that had been living in squalid conditions with a New York hoarder who apparently did not realize how adversely filth and severe crowding--some had been living in crates--had affected the birds.

Many were suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

They were rescued through efforts of the Ulster County SPCA and Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

A story on the sanctuary website states: "Many were suffering from ailments caused specifically by their filthy living conditions. They lived in small sheds and animal carriers, overcrowded, living among layers of caked feces, and breathing in dust and the stench of ammonia."

Of their new life in and around the ponds, the story explained: "They are now enjoying sunshine on their feathers, water to swim in, clean bedding, warmth, grass under their feet and room to roam for the very first time."

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Great story! Albeit somewhat sad.

Snuggly Buddy

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This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".

Kawaii Shoujo

David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .

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fairy-phoenix
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .


My friend's mom had about 50 cats. Some outdoor, most indoor. Cleaning up he house after she died was really nasty due to super strong ammonia smell from the cat urine.

I don't really consider her a 'hoarder' though. More like she just felt loved having the cats around and could not say no to strays. Her house stunk but it was not all full of stuff. If you took the cats out of the equation the house was pretty normal.

Playful Guildswoman

David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".

True, but some cases of animal hoarding have come to light recently - a large number of puppies, 2 batches (different breeds) were located recently in Texas. The ;assumption was that puppy mills were abandoning animals under the tighter regulations about to go into effect. The puppies had not been socialized at all. Sites for info: ASPCA, Humane Society, P.E.T.A. (My problem with the first two is when someone tries to make you feel godawful to do something good, and with the 3rd, I think they sometimes go over the top. Still, all 3 have value and have been effective advocates.)

I only ran into one hoarder ever. A friend took me to meet a woman who rescued stray cats, believing I would 'like' her. I felt ill. She had dozens of kittens roaming her yard, which looked like an uncleaned kittybox. The yard was huge, not a postage stamp variety. (We are talking nice big Victorian on less than half of the double lot.) Many of them looked ill.

I wanted to report it, but had been so upset I had been too disoriented to copy the address, and was unable to locate it when I tried to go back.
I saw that on the news. The ducks looked happy splashing around in it like kids.
fairy-phoenix
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .
that's so sick

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David2074
fairy-phoenix
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .


My friend's mom had about 50 cats. Some outdoor, most indoor. Cleaning up he house after she died was really nasty due to super strong ammonia smell from the cat urine.

I don't really consider her a 'hoarder' though. More like she just felt loved having the cats around and could not say no to strays. Her house stunk but it was not all full of stuff. If you took the cats out of the equation the house was pretty normal.
No need for her to have had piles of junk. She is a classic example of an animal hoarder. I doubt that most of the cats, if any, had regular veterinary checkups and vaccinations; she would have had to spend thousands of dollars per year on preventative care alone. Then there is the lack of sanitation. What became of the cats after her death?

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jellykans
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".

True, but some cases of animal hoarding have come to light recently - a large number of puppies, 2 batches (different breeds) were located recently in Texas. The ;assumption was that puppy mills were abandoning animals under the tighter regulations about to go into effect. The puppies had not been socialized at all. Sites for info: ASPCA, Humane Society, P.E.T.A. (My problem with the first two is when someone tries to make you feel godawful to do something good, and with the 3rd, I think they sometimes go over the top. Still, all 3 have value and have been effective advocates.)

I only ran into one hoarder ever. A friend took me to meet a woman who rescued stray cats, believing I would 'like' her. I felt ill. She had dozens of kittens roaming her yard, which looked like an uncleaned kittybox. The yard was huge, not a postage stamp variety. (We are talking nice big Victorian on less than half of the double lot.) Many of them looked ill.

I wanted to report it, but had been so upset I had been too disoriented to copy the address, and was unable to locate it when I tried to go back.


You don't have to convince me animal hoarding exists.
I was just saying it had never occurred to me as one of the things people hoard.

And yes to them making you feel bad. I forget if it was the humane society but when I bought my house I ended up dropping off a couple of cats. I brought them in a plastic tote box rather than a proper cat carrier. The lady had kind of a shitty attitude towards me and was trying to lecture me about how the cats might not get enough air in there, yadda yadda. Like I was the bad guy for bringing them in. Finally I'd had enough and was like, .. Look lady...
1. I came straight here. They were only in that box for about 15 minutes.
2. You will note that I propped the lid part way open with a stick to allow air to enter.
3. I just bought my house and it came with 13 abandoned cats. Even though I am mildly allergic to cats I adopted one of them. I found homes for all the others except these last two, one of which is mostly feral. If I didn't care about them I could have just put a bullet in them and buried them in my woods. I did not have to drive all the way to town to bring them to you so please stop treating me like a bad guy.

After that she softened up a lot and was nice to me. I think prior to that she just assumed I was an irresponsible pet owner who did not want my cats once they were no longer cute kittens.

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Poor birds! Swimming should be as natural as breathing for them. I hope they'll be happy now.

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Ratttking
David2074
fairy-phoenix
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .


My friend's mom had about 50 cats. Some outdoor, most indoor. Cleaning up he house after she died was really nasty due to super strong ammonia smell from the cat urine.

I don't really consider her a 'hoarder' though. More like she just felt loved having the cats around and could not say no to strays. Her house stunk but it was not all full of stuff. If you took the cats out of the equation the house was pretty normal.
No need for her to have had piles of junk. She is a classic example of an animal hoarder. I doubt that most of the cats, if any, had regular veterinary checkups and vaccinations; she would have had to spend thousands of dollars per year on preventative care alone. Then there is the lack of sanitation. What became of the cats after her death?


I can see where you would think that but actually for the most part they were healthy. They had flea medicine and shots and such. For some meds they had a large size bottle from the vet and would give shots themselves. She also spent hundreds of dollars a month on canned and dry cat food. It was a point of contention between my friend and her mother because her mom was running herself into the poor house with that and other unnecessary expenses. Like for one thing she was a sucker when it came to one of her tenants wanting to borrow money or not pay the rent or what ever. If they had a sob story she believed it, even if they had scammed her before.

So yeah, cats themselves looked fine except a few of the outside ones were not very tame.
It was mainly the house that was nasty due to so many cats competing for marking their territory. These were not the mangy disease ridden animals you see on those 'stop animal cruelty' commercials. They were just basic, apparently healthy cats. Except they were way too many cats. smile

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David2074
Ratttking
David2074
fairy-phoenix
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".
I remember reading an article a long time ago at how a bunch of cats were rescued because someone was hoarding them, it was shown on that show hoarders, and the woman( I think it was a woman) kept the ones dead in the freezer... and they only found out about that because the refrigeration had failed, and now that is what I call disgusting emotion_donotwant .


My friend's mom had about 50 cats. Some outdoor, most indoor. Cleaning up he house after she died was really nasty due to super strong ammonia smell from the cat urine.

I don't really consider her a 'hoarder' though. More like she just felt loved having the cats around and could not say no to strays. Her house stunk but it was not all full of stuff. If you took the cats out of the equation the house was pretty normal.
No need for her to have had piles of junk. She is a classic example of an animal hoarder. I doubt that most of the cats, if any, had regular veterinary checkups and vaccinations; she would have had to spend thousands of dollars per year on preventative care alone. Then there is the lack of sanitation. What became of the cats after her death?


I can see where you would think that but actually for the most part they were healthy. They had flea medicine and shots and such. For some meds they had a large size bottle from the vet and would give shots themselves. She also spent hundreds of dollars a month on canned and dry cat food. It was a point of contention between my friend and her mother because her mom was running herself into the poor house with that and other unnecessary expenses. Like for one thing she was a sucker when it came to one of her tenants wanting to borrow money or not pay the rent or what ever. If they had a sob story she believed it, even if they had scammed her before.

So yeah, cats themselves looked fine except a few of the outside ones were not very tame.
It was mainly the house that was nasty due to so many cats competing for marking their territory. These were not the mangy disease ridden animals you see on those 'stop animal cruelty' commercials. They were just basic, apparently healthy cats. Except they were way too many cats. smile
OK, that's good to know. I'm still puzzled by why the cats marked, were they not neutered/spayed? Where did they end up when she died?

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Ratttking
OK, that's good to know. I'm still puzzled by why the cats marked, were they not neutered/spayed? Where did they end up when she died?


I believe they were all neutered / spayed. Not positive but I think so because I can remember my friend (the daughter) talking about taking different ones in when she would get new ones.

One thing I learned from my friend is sometimes even females mark territory if there are too many cats. So I'm thinking the neuter /spay thing would not stop them due to having so many. Also, some of it was less marking territory as cats going pee where they should not pee. You know how it is once a spot is established as a 'potty' spot. With so many cats accidents happened and then that spot now smelled like a spot to go pee, over time there were more and more places like that - and so on.

It is actually rather impressive what enough nasty cat urine can do.
I remember visiting that house as a child. The hardwood floors gleamed and were so well polished you had to be careful not to slip on your socks (no shoes allowed). Fast forward about 40 years and it did not look like the same house. The floor boards were basically stripped to bare wood by the ammonia in the cat urine. They ended up using special enzymes, a floor sander and finally a special paint on the floors. Really too bad because the old floors looked awesome. Also, by comparison - the cats were not allowed to go upstairs (there was a door at the stairwell) and the upstairs floors still look like what I remember from my childhood. It wasn't just time, it was definitely the cats.

As to what happened to them she arranged for them to be picked up by one animal shelters. It probably took them more than one trip even coming prepared. I have no idea how many of them eventually found homes or were put down but my friend figured that way at least some of them might find loving homes. My friend has two cats but I think those were her own and separate from all the ones her mom had. My friend is an adult and they did not live together. She did take her mom's dog though.

Playful Guildswoman

David2074
jellykans
David2074
This is a new one on me.
When I think of hoarding I think of stacks of old newspapers and magazines and mail and beanie babies and such. I don't picture "ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens".

True, but some cases of animal hoarding have come to light recently - a large number of puppies, 2 batches (different breeds) were located recently in Texas. The ;assumption was that puppy mills were abandoning animals under the tighter regulations about to go into effect. The puppies had not been socialized at all. Sites for info: ASPCA, Humane Society, P.E.T.A. (My problem with the first two is when someone tries to make you feel godawful to do something good, and with the 3rd, I think they sometimes go over the top. Still, all 3 have value and have been effective advocates.)

I only ran into one hoarder ever. A friend took me to meet a woman who rescued stray cats, believing I would 'like' her. I felt ill. She had dozens of kittens roaming her yard, which looked like an uncleaned kittybox. The yard was huge, not a postage stamp variety. (We are talking nice big Victorian on less than half of the double lot.) Many of them looked ill.

I wanted to report it, but had been so upset I had been too disoriented to copy the address, and was unable to locate it when I tried to go back.


You don't have to convince me animal hoarding exists.
I was just saying it had never occurred to me as one of the things people hoard.

And yes to them making you feel bad. I forget if it was the humane society but when I bought my house I ended up dropping off a couple of cats. I brought them in a plastic tote box rather than a proper cat carrier. The lady had kind of a shitty attitude towards me and was trying to lecture me about how the cats might not get enough air in there, yadda yadda. Like I was the bad guy for bringing them in. Finally I'd had enough and was like, .. Look lady...
1. I came straight here. They were only in that box for about 15 minutes.
2. You will note that I propped the lid part way open with a stick to allow air to enter.
3. I just bought my house and it came with 13 abandoned cats. Even though I am mildly allergic to cats I adopted one of them. I found homes for all the others except these last two, one of which is mostly feral. If I didn't care about them I could have just put a bullet in them and buried them in my woods. I did not have to drive all the way to town to bring them to you so please stop treating me like a bad guy.

After that she softened up a lot and was nice to me. I think prior to that she just assumed I was an irresponsible pet owner who did not want my cats once they were no longer cute kittens.

Oh, man....

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