A CHESTER woman is appealing for the public to help her trace the whereabouts of an injured duck she rescued from the canal last year.
Last August Jennifer Stone was feeding the ducks at the canal when she discovered the small female mallard whose top beak had been snapped off.
She was a third of the size of her siblings because she was unable to get to any of the food thrown into the water.
As the RSPCA were unable to catch her, Mrs Stone decided to feed the duck herself rather than let her starve and in past 10 months has spent more than 600 hours with her new friend, who she has nicknamed ‘Beaky’, watching her grow into a full-sized and healthy bird.
But last week when Mrs Stone went to the canal as usual to feed Beaky, the duck had disappeared, leaving her ‘owner’ devastated.
Mrs Stone said: “I am so worried what has happened to her.
“She may be injured and unable to get back to me for food so please, if possible, could anyone get in touch if they know where she is or if they have seen an injured duck around Chester in the last five days.
“Beaky's mother would bring her to me twice a day at 8am in the morning and 6pm in the evening under the flyover bridge by the Mill Hotel and when her mother trusted me to not try to catch her, Beaky was allowed to come to me on her own.
“She is very intelligent and knew where I lived, even recognising the orange car I had at that time,” she added.
“It was a thrill when Beaky started flying, I was so proud of her.
“I've watched her grow into a beautiful, full size, very fit and healthy bird.
“She can only scoop up food from the water and loves the floating duck food pellets and some soft brown bread cut into small squares.
“I’d love to find out where she is and ask anyone to please keep their eyes open.”
If you have any information about Beaky, call Jennifer on 07790 012939
