Duck hit by pub dart recovering well

A TWO-month-old duck has made a “wonderful” recovery after its head and beak were skewered with a pub game dart.The bird was discovered near a lake at Bure Park in Great Yarmouth on Saturday.

A TWO-month-old duck has made a “wonderful” recovery after its head and beak were skewered with a pub game dart.

The bird was discovered near a lake at Bure Park in Great Yarmouth on Saturday. The seven-inch dart had been embedded in its face, having gone in just under its eye, piercing the tongue when the female duck was picked up by animal workers.

Bev Cosse, from the Seal and Bird Rescue Trust, said the dart had skewered the duck's mouth closed, meaning it was nearly starving when it was spotted by a passer-by.

She said: “It's been like that for about nine days we think and it hasn't been able to eat. It was so badly emaciated. It's horrendous.”

The bird is being cared for at the trust's centre in Ridlington, near North Walsham, and has had the dart removed and the wound cleaned.

Mrs Cosse, the trust's chairman, said: “We are very, very pleased with her.”

The duck will now be kept at the rescue centre until the end of the summer to make sure it recovers properly.

It is hoped anyone with information about the cruelty will contact the police.

Mrs Cosse said there was no way it had been an accident. She said: “This is deliberate, absolutely deliberate. Somebody had to know how to throw a dart to do that.

“Whoever the person is that did it is disgusting. It's someone who is cruel enough to throw something like this at a totally defenceless, very young, mallard duck.”

One theory is the group of ducks in the lake were lured to the bank by someone feeding them bread before one was targeted to be killed - but instead the bird's head was skewered.

To report an attack to the Seal and Bird Rescue Trust call 01692 650338.