I'm so sad.

At the lake there are four very tame ducks that we've been feeding for months now. They were bought as pets for some local kids last Easter, we found out, but they got too big and the kids let them free in the lake at Christmas-time. Christmas-time? In the cold?

They are so tame that they take bread from my hand, they float up to the docks and call me. Quack! Quack! Quack! And I answer them, "Quack! Quack! Quack!" I look and sound like an idiot but they're so pretty... Two of them are white, and two of them are a gorgeous brown. We just determined within the last month or so that there are two males and two females.

The white female has been missing for a few days now, since Monday. DH didn't see her since we fed them on Sunday. He took a walk around our neighbors' properties, looking for her, but until today, she was MIA.

He found her today, sitting out of the water on R's dock, with one leg so badly hurt that you can't tell if it's been hurt in a boat propellor or chomped on by a snapping turtle. We assume it's not the turtle 'cause of how it's dislocated; it's pulled out behind her, all cut and bloodied.

DH thinks she's going to die. The triplets (cousins to the ones who let them go free) put some bread near her so she had food to eat. DH said he picked her up and held her and petted her; she's immobile and lets you pet her now. He's afraid she's going to die soon.

This makes me sad. They are so tame that they float right up to the boats that are moored out in the lake, begging for food. Perhaps someone wasn't as careful as they should be and started their engine while they were too close... I'm sure it was an accident, whatever happened, but now I'm not happy.