Duckling rescued after getting stuck in car wash

A young duckling had a lucky escape when he got stuck in a car wash. The mallard duckling got stuck in the huge machine at Tesco’s branch in Hunstanton, Norfolk after getting separated from his mother and family. The terrified youngster was soaked as a car went through one of the wash programmes, but the motorist spotted him and alerted staff.



The drenched duckling was rescued by workers but when they tried to reunite him with his mother she had disappeared. The duckling, which was shivering and had a touch of hypothermia, was taken instead to the RSPCA’s East Winch Wildlife Centre in Norfolk. And after three days of treatment he’s now been given a clean bill of health.

Centre manager Alison Charles said: “We really have no idea why he ended up in the car wash but he’d certainly been given a good clean. When he came to us he was absolutely drenched right through and was a very sorry sight indeed. He was checked over by our vet – he was damp, hypothermic and shivering.



“He was given glucose by mouth and then put under a heat lamp to dry off and warm up and after he was dried he looked like a duckling again. It’s sad that he’s not been reunited with mum, but now he has recovered from his ordeal we’ve put him in with other ducklings. We really do see animals come to us from a variety of unusual predicaments, but I’ve never dealt with one that has been in a car wash before.”