Stealing by finding is still theft. May they never rid the car of duck poo smell.
To go through chemo therapy or choose not to?
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AIBU
It's not often that I experience intense anger towards people, but I certainly did today! Long story, so maybe you'd like to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) and settle down to my tale.
My (almost four year old) grandson has raised two pet ducks who live in his garden in Devon and have a rather splendid duck house to which they retire every evening in order to prevent foxes from enjoying them for dinner. The garden (once part of a farm) is large and secure and is bordered by a rather posh modern housing estate. On Christmas day my daughter and her family went out to lunch and returned in the evening to find that the ducks had gone missing - the stormy weather had caused a small 'escape hole' to appear and the ducks had apparently wandered off. Not too alarmed, as they are usually ready to 'roost' at the same time each evening my daughter and her husband searched the nearby estate calling for them; hoping that the 'girls' as they are affectionately known would find their way home (as they did on a previous occasion). Sadly this time the girls didn't reappear and the whole family were distraught and since then have contacted anyone and everyone who might have news, but to no avail.
Today in a last ditch effort to find their pets they systematically began knocking on nearby doors and asking the householders if they had seen the ducks. A close neighbour answered the query with a definite 'No' only to be contradicted by her little boy who had heard the question; he reminded her that they had seen the ducks and as she tried to say again that she hadn't seen or heard the ducks he became insistent (in the sort of puzzled way of small children when they hear a blatant lie think that mummy must have forgotten 
) that they had seen the ducks - it was obvious that he was contradicting what his mother was saying and that she was trying to silence him when the woman's husband came to the door and admitted reluctantly that his sister, who was visiting for Christmas, had found the ducks wandering and so had taken them home with her - wait for it........to Cambridge!!!! And what's more if they wanted their pets back they'd have to go and get them!
So that's what they've done. This afternoon they drove from Devon to a village in Cambridge to get their son's beloved pets back, at a cost of £80 in fuel and a ten hour return journey! The woman in question was blatantly unashamed that she had effectively stolen someone's family pets and had made no effort to trace their owner or even report them found. (That they were pets, rather than wild ducks was never in question.)
So, I feel quite incensed that
a) she took my grandson's pets in the first place b) when asked if she would drive part way to meet my daughter and return them she refused, and c) that she was quite unrepentant.
The only nice outcome is that I was due to look after my two little grandsons for a few days from this evening, whilst my daughter and her husband have a few days break, and instead I got to have the little one (ten months) for the whole afternoon today as well whilst his parents chased off to Cambridge and big brother was attending his first pantomime. (Looking for the silver cloud 
)
One of the ducks is a runner duck and the pair are completely tame, obviously pets, and the house where they were initially taken is within close 'quacking' distance - so I would be more than a little surprised if the neighbours didn't have an idea that they were the ducks from the garden across the road.
We are pleased that they were taken in and didn't become a fox's dinner, but really shocked that no efforts at all were made to locate the owners - a single call to the police or RSPCA would have done the job as they were reported missing very quickly. There is a local animal shelter that would have taken them, but according to the neighbour his sister had wanted them as pets herself.
Anyway, today I'm just delighted that they're home and seeing my grandson so happy at the news was wonderful.
Duck wars. Kitten wars. Goodness me. Wouldn't want to mess with you granjura 
Thought the end of the story was going involve orange, so I guess that the ducks were reclaimed is quite surprising. Noticed that the geese that live on the river bank opposite my sister were not allowed out in the days just before xmas and reappeared on xmas day.
My DS once had ducks and some chickens in the garden. The whole lot were swiped one night. We suspected a resentful neighbour (long back story) - must have been someone who knew they were there, and we were not living somewhere where there were many passing pedestrians.
My 14 yr old friend has just had a sad loss - Henry the guinea pig. Her parents must have spent many hundreds of pounds on vets' bills during the course of his life. They thought they were getting a cheap pet.
What awful people! My daughter who is 39 has never got over having her pet duckling eaten by a fox when she was about 6. I can't imagine what she would have done if someone had deliberately stolen it.
The little boy who refused to shut up sounds like my GS
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