The Bachelor

"Now, now, ladies. There's plenty of me to go around." James the duck thinks quite a lot of himself. Why not? He's one guy living with three doting females. Not bad for a fellow who hardly knew what another duck looked like when he came to the sanctuary.
James had lived with a woman in her home for seven years, so he'd never been around other ducks. When she felt she could no longer care adequately for James, he came to Best Friends. The bird staff introduced him to Cedar, another domestic duck. Remember her? She survived a predator attack and came to Best Friends to heal up. (Doing great now, by the way!) Cedar missed other ducks ... but then James showed up, and sparks flew! They hit it off in a big way.

But, alas, James is not the monogamous sort, as it turns out. Two female ducks, Ping and Pong, came to the sanctuary after their shelter closed down. They were put in the same play area as James and Cedar, and James started sending out the flirtation vibes right away. Didn't take long before he won them both over. Cedar isn’t too thrilled with the development, but she doesn't have much say in the matter ... unless these two new ducks somehow disappear.

Which brings up another point. There are a whole lot of ducks at Best Friends right now! Any takers? Ducks make great pets, and are pretty much into self-maintenance. Give them some other ducks to play with, meet their basic needs, and they're good to go. No risking carpal tunnel with 12-hour games of fetch. No dead mice dropped lovingly at the foot of your bed in the middle of the night. Just loads of personality. So, if anybody out there would like to help break up this love rectangle and give Cedar her man back, you know where to call!

Story by David Dickson
Photo by Molly Wald

To learn how you can adopt a duck, a parrot, or any other feathered friend at Best Friends, please contact birds@bestfriends.org