Ricky* is twelve years old. He enjoys four-wheeling and fishing for bass and catfish. He prefers catfish, “because they taste better.” He likes to mow the lawn. He’s partial to baseball caps. He enjoys being outdoors; it shows in his deep tan, freckles and sun-bleached, blond hair.
Ricky is enrolled in therapeutic foster care, known as Substitute Care. He’s also an awfully kind kid. It was on an after school outing with staffer Wade Anderson that Trevor helped save the life of an injured mallard duck.
“I picked Ricky up from school and we drove to Berlin Pond to go fishing,” Wade recounted. “We got out and Ricky said, ‘Hey, look over there.’”
“There” was a muddy area across the parking lot. Ricky noticed a distressed duck. Its body was folded over, its head partially submerged. Every once in a while it stirred, a little. It was too weak to quack.
“What should we do?” Ricky asked.
The answer was clear: they needed to help the injured fowl. As they walked to the bird, a woman was removing a raft from her car.
“Ricky took the initiative to tell her about the duck,” Wade said.
She explained she was trying to rescue the duck to bring it to the Vermont
Institute of Natural Science’s (VINS) avian wildlife rehabilitation facility in Quechee.
“We can help you,” Ricky said.
Ricky and Wade helped the woman maneuver her raft; Ricky held it steady as she rescued the injured duck. Wade watched from the shore. The female mallard was entwined in fishing line, trapped, like a fly, in a web. Line wrapped around her head, wings, feet and torso. She was afraid. She was exhausted. She trusted her helpers.
Fishing line was gently cut away; the duck was wrapped in a soft towel and secured for safe transport. Contact information was exchanged between rescuers. About a week later, Wade was contacted by the woman to say the duck was healed and ready for release at the pond. She asked if Ricky wanted to perform the release.
“It (the duck) was heavy in the box,” Ricky said. “I could feel it moving around and quacking. Once I opened the box, it just took off.”
Ricky received a certificate from VINS, thanking him for his role in saving a duck...in the wilds of beautiful Vermont.
*NAME CHANGED TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIALITY
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