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Monday, May 26, 1997

Neighborly duck waddles her way into people's hearts

By MARY LEE GRANT / Corpus Christi Caller-Times

KINGSVILLE, Texas - A Kingsville woman was surprised last week when she saw the neighborhood duck guiding a cat across the street. "I think Daisy was trying to show that cat how to cross the street," said Nova Sahtout. "She and the cat really stick together. Daisy knows about cars and the cat doesn't."

That's Daisy as in Daisy Duck, who arrived in the Santa Gertrudis Estates neighborhood near Texas A&M University-Kingsville as a neighborhood boy's Easter gift and has waddled her way into the hearts of residents.

"She has become the neighborhood duck," said Ms. Sahtout, who lives across the street from Daisy's owners. "Everyone loves her."

Even felines fond of eating birds have been won over.

Dogs are another story. They are scared of the fat, white Peking duck.

She chases large dogs, flapping her wings and quacking furiously. Bravado is Daisy's only form of protection since she can't fly, and her soft yellow bill is hardly threatening. Instead of fearing cats, she makes friends, and can frequently be found cuddled up with her long neck in the laps of neighborhood cats.

Her owner, Cynthia Villalon, said Daisy isn't like any other duck she has ever seen.

"We bought (Daisy) for my 4-year-old son Antonio III last Easter," she said. "We had four ducklings. Two ran away and one was killed by a dog."

But Daisy, named Donald before she started laying eggs, has survived and prospered.

"She's a people duck," Ms. Villalon said. "She even follows people when they are walking their dogs. And when I'm out walking, it's me, my son behind me, our cat, and then Daisy in the rear."

Ms. Villalon's next-door neighbor, Debby Franklin, said she sometimes fears for the brave duck.

"I just worry a dog will get her," Ms. Franklin said.

Ms. Franklin has a bird dog she keeps fenced in the back yard, but curious Daisy can't resist putting her head through holes in the fence.

"My dog keeps pointing at Daisy, and I am so afraid I'll come out one day and her head will be on one side of the fence and her body on the other," Ms. Franklin said.

Daisy has also been threatened by the dog catcher, but Ms. Franklin protected her.

"I said, 'This is our neighborhood duck and we love her. We will all stick together to protect her.' "

The duck stayed.

Daisy does have a few annoying habits. She eats Ms. Franklin's carnations. And she goes from house to house early in the morning, heading straight for each front door and quacking at a loud volume. Sometimes she makes her rounds as early as 5 a.m.

"At first we thought she wanted food," Ms. Villalon said. "But she won't eat a lot of what people offer her. I think she just wants attention. She wants everybody to get up and get going. She goes wherever the action is. If there are children playing, she plays with them, and if a car drives up that seems to be threatening the children, she quacks at it and chases it away."

Daisy even recognizes the cars of individual neighbors.

"When she sees my car coming, she runs down the street to my house to greet me," Ms. Franklin said.

When Daisy wants attention, she is determined to get it. She lies down in front of people so they can't walk past, and if they walk around her, she lies down in front of them again.

"I finally realized she wanted to be petted," Ms. Franklin said. The duck also has the dangerous habit of standing behind cars and quacking, apparently in an attempt to keep the drivers from backing out of their driveways.

Ms. Villalon's explanation for the quirky behavior is that Daisy doesn't know she's a duck.

"I think she's like Babe," Ms. Villalon said, referring to the title creature of the recent movie. "Babe didn't know he was a pig. He thought he was a dog. Daisy hasn't been around other ducks. I think the problem is she doesn't know how ducks are supposed to act. She's been around cats and dogs and people, not ducks."

Jonathan Thompson, a professor of wildlife science at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, said Daisy's behavior is unusual for a domesticated duck.

He said the Peking duck, which is commonly raised for its meat, has been domesticated in China for about 2,000 years.

"What probably happened is that ducks go through an imprinting process at an early age," he said. "The duck probably doesn't think she is a person or a cat, but because of positive experiences as a duckling, she has no fear of people or cats. She may have had a bad experience with dogs, or a dog may have chased one of her cat friends.

"Someday she may run into a dog who isn't afraid of her," Ms. Thompson said. "The dogs probably just freak out and run from her because they aren't used to being chased by a duck." But now Daisy has a new interest besides calling on her neighbors and chasing dogs.

She has a nest and is laying eggs. Unfortunately, there are no drakes residing in Santa Gertrudis Estates.

She didn't make her nest at home, where she has her own swimming pool, but in the thick shrubbery of a neighbor's yard. "I think she considers the whole neighborhood her territory," Ms. Villalon said.

Daisy is a frequent visitor of Joyce Pharr, who feeds her cornbread when the duck comes rooting through her compost heap early in the morning.

"That duck is the only thing people talk about around here," Ms. Pharr said. "We all adore Daisy. We had a block party the other day, and of all the things there are to talk about, everybody talked about the duck."

Ms. Villalon sees Daisy as a unifying force.

"A lot of people who didn't know each other do now. They all get together to talk about the duck, and they make friends."

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