What the Water Held

Updated June 26, 2026

As the day broke, we learned of yet more animals in peril, victims of the vagaries of we humans. This time it was a group of domestic ducks who had been abandoned on a reservoir, left to the water, the reeds and whatever kindness might find them.

The first to arrive at sanctuary was Mrs Gemima Puddleduck, a sweet and chatty white Muscovy whose gentle conversations seemed to ask where her friends had gone.

Two days later she would learn.

Mr Matthew Duck, a dashingly handsome Cayuga drake, wore the most brilliant dark green sheen, like oil-slick emerald caught in sunlight. He could well be the poster boy for his kind. And there was dear Monique, a soft Khaki Campbell who carried a sorrow we would soon understand.

When help had first arrived at the reservoir, Matthew and Monique did not know their rescuers came with kind hands and gentle hearts. Frightened, they had disappeared deep into the reeds, and it would take two days of patient searching before they were finally found.

For Matthew, there was immense relief as a fishhook that trailed into his back was mercifully removed. The final verdict? No lasting damage. And then came the moment that softened the ache: Matthew saw Gemima again. And when the two abandoned souls reunited, there was no doubt that these birds remember their friends.

But for Monique, our help came too late.

Following that fishing line that dripped from her mouth led to a hook lodged deep down in her throat and driven hard into her flesh. It had been there for some time, quietly stealing her ability to eat, leaving her slowly starving. And so, with breaking hearts, we did what that hook could not.

We ended her suffering.

There is comfort in knowing Monique no longer hurts. But there is no comfort in how she came to hurt at all.

Recreational fishing is so often painted as a harmless pastime, yet killing for fun is never fun for the ones on the receiving end. Discarded fishhooks and lines do not simply disappear when a day of “recreation” is done. They wait in water, mud, reeds and even trees, becoming hidden weapons for the innocent. Ducks, swans, turtles, birds and the fish themselves can pay a terrible price long after the person who cast the line has gone home.

Concerningly, we believe one duck may still be unaccounted for, perhaps already lost, reportedly carrying a leg injury.

And so we hold Gemima and Matthew close, while the water keeps its secrets.

Monique’s story will not be one of silence.

It must be a call to care.