They can’t all be good days but the light can shine through

Yesterday one of my recently-released rescue ducks was killed by a local cat, and I am absolutely devastated.

Daisy was such a sweet little girl, and even after release, she would follow me around the yard. She would look at me with such trust and innocence and had the sweetest personality, and she’d waddle as fast as she could after me on her little legs.

Although she was only in my care for several weeks, I’d grown really fond of her and her four siblings, and I was so happy when I was finally able to set them all free to hopefully find a mate and have little ducklings of their own.

So this horrific event has hit me hard.

So I’ve allowed myself to cry and to really feel the loss of my sweet little Daisy, who I will always remember, and I’ve set about educating people in my local area about the importance of keeping pets secure, especially at night.

There is some light at the end of this story however. I posted the details of what happened in a local community Facebook group, asking for people in my local area to secure their cats at night, in the hope that the owners of this cat would see this post and begin to keep their cat inside.

Through this post, I’ve also managed to connect with a wonderful and kind lady who has offered her property as a release site for my future ducks in care, and for that I am truly grateful. She is on an acreage with a huge dam, meaning that my released ducks will have a safe place to sleep (I currently have 7 Pacific Black ducklings in care and they like to sleep on the water, well away from predators!).

So while this situation has been heartbreaking, there is some good that has come of it. I’ve been able to educate a bunch of people about the importance of securing cats at night, and if this inspires people to do just that, then there’s a whole bunch of native animals that will now live, that may not have had a chance before.

Not only that but I now have a wonderful and much safer release site for my current and future rescue ducks, and for that I am so very grateful.

The lesson here is that we will sometimes face awful situations which can can do absolutely nothing about. But what we can do is attempt to create something positive from that situation, and that is what I have done today.

This doesn’t make Daisy’s death any easier for me to accept, but it does mean that her life was not lost for nothing. If I’ve inspired just one cat owner to secure their cat at night, then it’s possible that dozens of deaths like Daisy’s will be prevented, and that is a good thing. Also, I now have a wonderful place to release my next batch of ducks, and this is the very best outcome for them, and for that I am truly grateful.