Plucky duck set to spread its wings

Tough Cookie lives up to her name after being rescued from a seagull attack by a Seaton shopworker

A tiny duckling rescued from a seagull attack at Seaton is set to return to the wild.

Named Tough Cookie (TC) after surviving against the odds, the plucky duck was saved from almost certain death by local shopworker Samantha Carter.

She found the baby bird alone and under bombardment from gulls in the Co-op car park, around two months ago.

She said: “I managed to catch her in my coat and walked around town asking people if they had seen the mother, without success.

“So I took her home, put her in a big box with a heat lamp and baby chick/duckling feed and water and hoped she would make it through the night. I set alarms so I checked she was ok every two hours.”

Thankfully, the duckling lived up to her name and with daily swims in a garden paddling pool and plenty of TLC from Samantha she is fit and strong and nearly fully grown.

Now it is planned to release her back into the wild at a pond near Colyton, as soon as she gets fully airborne, in about a week.

It will be a sad farewell for Samantha and number of other Seaton residents as TC has become something of a local celebrity at her home in Fore Street.

Added Samantha: “A lot of people in town ask me about her and how she is, she is even on YouTube. There are many pictures of her from the fluff ball she was when she turned up to the strong, beautiful spoilt princess she is today!”