Everything Is Just Ducky For This Mallard, Thanks To Woburn Vet

WOBURN, MA -- It was a Sunday in December when Stacey Lewis, a volunteer at the Woburn Animal Hospital, found a mallard with what was later described as a "severe orthopedic injury." Being a Sunday, there were no doctors working and, being more of a wildlife case than the household pets the hospital typically treats, Lewis agreed to drive the injured duck to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton.

That was on December 17 and what would be the first day of a two-month process to treat and rehabilitate the duck. On Saturday, Lewis drove from her home in New Hampshire to North Grafton, then on to Woburn to release the duck into the waterway that runs by the hospital. The waterway is a popular hangout for local ducks and geese.

The injured duck was stabilized at Tufts and had surgery a few days after she arrived in North Grafton. The duck was showing signs of stress, even after she was finally given the green light to start testing out the repaired wing in a flight cage. So the specialists at Tufts decided to do some matchmaking and find her a friend.

The staff at Tufts paired her up with what Woburn Animal Hospital staff described as a "cute male duck" to keep her company while she was being treated. The rehabbing duck's stress levels dissipated and now the two are an item: when Lewis returned with the rehabilitated duck on Saturday, she also brought along her new beau.

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Photo by Stacey Lewis.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).