
HARK, where he waits to be claimed. Sabrina Harvey photo.
The apparent owners of a duck rescued on Main Street this week said they’ll take him back- if they have to.
Sabrina Harvey, her two daughters and friend, Maggie Martin bumped into the fowl on a sidewalk outside Howser’s Sunday.
“Woah, there’s a duck,” Harvey remembers thinking. Instead of flying away, the male bird followed the foursome across the street and eventually allowed Martin to pick him up, Harvey said.
The women corralled the duck away from cars, and brought him to the police, who passed him off to Tracy Mikowski at Haines Animal Rescue Kennel (HARK).
“That was our first duck,” Haines Borough dispatcher Celeste Grimes said. “Though we’ve definitely gotten our fair share of dogs dropped off here.”
Mikowski confirmed Harvey’s suspicion that the duck is domesticated “just based on his behavior.” She is keeping him at the shelter set up with a kiddie pool until he’s claimed. The duck’s markings are similar to a mallard, but his slightly larger size indicates that he’s a Rouen, a domesticated breed, Mikowski said.
“He is currently enjoying a nice meal and warm accommodations but would appreciate a lift home,” Mikowski wrote on Facebook. If nobody claims the duck in a few days, the shelter will “re-home him,” she said. Residents have expressed interest adopting him.
According to several responses on Mikowski’s Facebook post, locals have seen the duck around town. Rustin Gooden wrote, “I saw him down past the Harbor Bar back in the first week of November. Very friendly, I’m sure he has a family of people.”
Quite a few residents keep ducks for eggs, according to Mikowski, but none of them have claimed the lost Rouen. Jon and Sydney Wray had a duck that went missing from their backyard on First Avenue in late December, they said.
“I thought maybe it had been killed by something, but not when I saw (the photo of) it on Main Street,” Jon Wray said in a phone interview this week from California, where he works.
Wray said his family’s duck was not very affectionate and had to be chased to be picked up, contradicting Mikowski’s description of the lost duck’s behavior. He said if it is in fact his duck, a new owner has his blessing. “Otherwise I’d have to get my wife to go get it, and she probably doesn’t want to do that,” he said.
Wife Sydney Wray told the CVN that if no one claimed the duck, she would take it. For now, the future of the duck is on hold, said HARK’s Mikowski.
“He’s not technically ours yet, so we can’t name him until he’s unclaimed for a few more days,” Mikowski said