Poor Duck

[EmmaLou]

We have a brook running at the back of our house which is fantastic for keeping my 2 year old daughter amused. We go out and feed the ducks, watch for fish and occasionally we get to see the heron or kingfisher that live there. Hours of fun!

Unfortunately when it rains the ducks mistake the road at the front for the brook! Today we were walking along when we spotted one of the ducks had been hit by a car. When I explained to my little girl that it had been hit and was dead (they have to learn about these things sometime!), she ran up to it and before I could stop her she gave it a cuddle and a kiss. Oh dear - maybe not something to encourage. My mum is now worried that she will get bird flu from it. Personally I am not too worried (ok maybe a little now my mum has been on at me!)...I'm more worried about the dog muck my daughter got all over her on the same walk after falling in it! Yuk!

[EmmaLou]

[Emagggie]

Not much to choose between a dead duck and dog muck-------very yuck :-\

[Paulines7]

EmmaLou, I really don't think you have anything to worry about.  The fact that the duck had been run over and not died by any other means is very reassuring in itself.  The ducks in your brook are probably very local anyway and not migrants. 

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of this is that somehow you have got to keep telling your little daughter that she must not kiss any animals including cats, dogs and birds apart from those that are her cuddly toys.  Not easy for a 2 year old to understand so you may just have to remind her everytime you see an animal.  Please reassure your Mum that there is nothing to worry about in this incident and that you are taking action to make sure that it doesn't happen again.  Good luck.  :D

[EmmaLou]

Hi Paulines7

Thank you for your reassuring words. The ducks I think are local and we see the families grow up here each year (can't wait to see the new lot of ducklings!), although poor Mr Mallard won't be able to see his young  :'(. He was probably one of the babies from last year. Such a handsome fellow.

Have to say I did start worrying a bit more today - made the mistake of doing a search on the web - wow there are a lot of sites out there determined to get people into a panic. I decided to call Defra just to keep the family from worrying - the lady I spoke to was ever-so nice. She wasn't at all annoyed that I had called. She explained to me the facts that are relevant to us, and reassured me that the risk is extremely low as you have to spend a significant amount of time with infected birds to catch the virus.

Can't say I like the sound of the other illnesses you can catch from them!
Oh well! Can't spend all our time worrying about everything.

[bennettsleg]

I'd be more concerned about the dog-poo. You're right about the level of scare-mongering that is going on about the bird-flu and it's good to be practical about your child's health. 

On the one hand her immune system will be stronger for it and she'll start to understand that things do eventually die, but on the other the dog-poo doubtless harbours more harmful bacteria than a dead duck (depending on how dead it was, of course!)

Don't mean to scare you further.  I had a dead stoat as a pet (only for a day - meddling mother!) when I was 4 and it never did me any harm.

[EmmaLou]

When I was a kid we used to spend a lot of time at my grandads, running around the yard, feeding the mule, going in the chicken houses - generally getting covered in muck and coming into contact with all sorts of animals and then going and sampling fresh strawberries from the veg garden. Never once can I remember being told to wash my hands and I have never caught anything from the animals. Dog poo was the only thing that we were told to avoid.

These days we do too much cleaning! No wonder we get ill, if we kill off all the beneficial bacterias and don't build up immunities.