Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Nursed back to health, ducks swim free today

A dozen sick ducks will be released back onto the water today after being cared for by staff and volunteers with Manitoba’s Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre.

The mallards came to the centre a few weeks ago, most of them weak, lethargic and unable to eat or move. The centre said the ducks also had paralysis of the legs and wings, and one had a paralyzed neck.

Now that they’re back on their feet, the ducks were released at 11 a.m. today onto the north side of the Assiniboine River, under the east side of the St. James Bridge (on Wolseley Avenue West).

The ducks are believed to have been struck with the same illness that killed at least 20 other ducks, which washed up on the shore near The Forks earlier this month.

Initial tests on the ducks by Environment Canada were inconclusive, said the centre, but the birds showed the usual signs of botulism.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 29, 2008 $sourceSection$sourcePage

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