Help Frisco and other one-legged ducks get new legs!

Update 5 April - see updates page for an update on Frisco after X-rays taken. Frisco needs this 3D technology more than ever now! 😢

I have a small duck sanctuary in North Canterbury. Late last year, I was given a one legged duckling, who I later named Frisco...

Little did I know, when I agreed to take him, how quickly Frisco would hop his way into my heart! This little one legged duck has suffered setback after setback in the 4 months he has been in my care. He's never given up, and never let anything get him down for long...

As long as he's had a cuddle at night, and at least one chance to attack my watch strap, Frisco has behaved as though he is pretty happy with his lot....

But while for the most part, they are decidedly honest... Ducks can lie...

And More than once, I have watched Frisco.... Much like he watches....

Watches my other ducks forage...

Watches my other ducks swim, and play in the water...

Watches my other ducks socialise, and find mates...

Watches my wild mallard ducks fly....

And I can see on his face and in his eyes, how much he longs to join them. To be a part of the life they are living. Not some super glamorous or luxurious lifestyle. Just the average, everyday life, of your average everyday duck...

But the difference is, they get to live it

While Frisco, just gets to watch .....

Much as he tries to hide his pain behind a friendly 'duckduck' or a cheeky nip at my watch, I know Frisco longs, longs to one day join those other ducks he sees living life

And when I watch him, watching....

I can't help but wonder, does he ask himself, why?

Why can they walk and I can't?

Why do they have friends, mates, a social life, and I don't?

Why can they fly and I can't?

Why can they go where they wish, and I cannot move?

Why am I sitting here, watching them, so easily, do everything I long to do

What did I do? That I am not able to have a life I can live? Only watch others live theirs?

Some might say, "it's just a duck" as if his life is unimportant and without value.

But to Frisco, his life is extremely important, and of incalculable value...

it's the only one he's got.

And he's brought such joy into my life, I also, want to see Frisco, living life, rather than watching it....

Luckily for Frisco, I am not the only one that has fallen in love with him. Already Craig Shepherd at the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust has decided to fund life changing surgery for him, and numerous people have donated money to pay for his transport to and from Wellington and help out with his ongoing nursing costs.

Now, it's time for you to fall in love with Frisco too.... And help him get the one thing that would mean everything to him....

You can help Frisco get a new leg. You can give back to Frisco, what a predator tore away from a tiny, terrified little duckling, leaving him confused, broken, bleeding and in agony.

By donating to this fundraiser, you can give Frisco the only chance he will have at getting a new leg.

If the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust, could achieve their fundraising goal while Frisco is in Wellington over the next month, he will have an opportunity to receive surgery to place a supporting implant in the small stump that remains of his second leg, and then, a prosthetic leg to attach to that implant.

This is pretty pioneering stuff. While a few ducks have been given prosthetic legs before, they have all had much more leg to attach the prosthetic to. Usually they have had all of the upper leg as well as a 'knee' (hock) joint. Frisco only has a very small section of his upper leg left.

So he would need specialist surgery to implant something to fix it to, before he can use a prosthetic leg.

So really this is his one and only chance. Or rather

You, are his one and only chance...

You can find out more about Frisco, and see his story on my Givealittle page or at facebook.com/Uninhibitedducks. But donating to this project is the best way you can help Frisco have the life he so desperately wants...

What's more, your donation also will assist other disabled birds, and later on, native species, to reach their goals of living life rather than just watching it....

If you personally aren't in a position to donate, you can still help, by sharing this page on social media, along with your personal comments to encourage your friends, family and colleagues who are able to donate, to do so.

Thank you for reading Friscos story.

Your questions are welcome.