Rehoboth's DuckTales have happy ending

Five white Pekin ducks recently discovered sometimes Launchpad McQuack is not around to help get a duck out of a jam. The feathered friends last month appeared on the banks of Silver Lake in Rehoboth Beach, where they found they had to fend for themselves.

Mary Burt Lankford, who lives along Silver Lake, said she first saw the farm-raised ducks Aug. 25, just before Hurricane Irene blew through. Lankford fed the ducks corn twice a day.

"Who in their right mind would dump them here?" she said.

Two ducks have been captured and moved to Dawn's Country Market, which helps raise rescued animals at its Milton-based farm.

Wally Goff, whose wife, Dawn, owns the market, said the couple hopes to capture the three remaining ducks in the next couple of days. Goff said the ducks moved to the farm are doing well and interacting with nine other rescued ducks.

Lankford said the three remaining ducks have been very tough to catch, running away back into the lake when Goff comes close to them.

Three of the original five ducks appeared to be females; the other two appear to be males. Lankford said from what she could gather, males have curly tails, while the females' beaks are lighter than the males.

Pekin ducks, also known as Long Island ducks, are domesticated birds grown for their eggs and meat or raised as pets. Goff said these ducks could have been pets. He said people sometimes get the ducks for kids as Easter gifts, and when they no longer have room for them, they dump them in the nearest lake or river. Pekin ducks cannot fly.

The five ducks stuck together at Silver Lake, Lankford said, and they were not fearful of people.

"They are certainly distinctive," she said.

Goff said the ducks could have survived at Silver Lake as long as they were given feed or grass was still growing. However, he said, once winter comes, the ducks would be in trouble because they aren't used to scrounging for food.

While Lankford was upset that the ducks were dumped at Silver Lake, she quickly took on caring for them as her own.

"I named them Huey, Dewey, Louie, Daisy and Mae," she joked.