“There is no way these little guys would’ve survived.”
By Maeve Dunigan
Published on July 9, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Earlier this month, rescuers at Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary were gearing up for their Fourth of July celebrations when they received a call about two “very tiny yellow balls of fluff” floating in a small pond near an apartment complex in Dearborn.
Sanctuary founder Matthew Lyson sent Faye, a volunteer rescuer, to the scene.
Faye tried to reach the little birds, but without a kayak, she couldn’t get to them in the center of the pond. She relayed the news to Lyson, who returned later that day with a boat and his rescue partner, Mike.
Lyson peered across the water. Finally, after about 10 minutes of looking, he found them.
“I noticed two tiny shadows of yellow,” Lyson wrote on Facebook.
The ducks anxiously scurried away as Lyson approached, their little legs “spinning like a mechanical toy.” Together, Lyson and Mike managed to corner the ducks and catch them with a small butterfly net.
Lyson identified the days-old babies as Pekin ducks, a domestic breed unsuited for the wild.
“Someone must have literally bought them from the store and didn’t keep them for two days,” Lyson wrote. “[They] dumped them in the pond, thinking they would survive and grow up.”
It turns out, the rescuers had reached them just in time.
“Two hours later, there was a torrential downpour in that same area, and there is no way these little guys would’ve survived that!” Lyson wrote. “Timing is everything.”
Lyson took the ducks back to the sanctuary, where they’ll spend the rest of their days in expert care with other rescued ducks.
“They’re eating well,” Lyson told The Dodo. “And slowly growing!”
To help other animals like these ducks, you can donate to Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary.