Adorable Labrador Adopts 9 Orphaned Ducklings
In what might be the most adorable thing we’ve ever wrote about, a Labrador has become the proud father to almost a dozen ducklings. Fred, a 10-year-old Labrador at Mountfitchet Castle in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, UK, adopted 9 baby ducks after their mother disappeared last Thursday.
The castle’s owner, Jeremy Goldsmith, told a local news outlet “We brought the ducklings into the house as they are too young to fend for themselves, and Fred just took them under his paw – rather than his wing. He’s got a lovely nature and has grown up around rescued animals.”
Fred has been the resident animal at the castle for quite some time now, and there are other animals on the grounds including goats, ducks, peacocks, and chickens. Fred spends most of the day with his new orphans, and can be seen walking around the castle’s grounds with the ducklings on his back. Goldsmith said that the ducklings “climb all over him, getting up on his head and his back. When he goes swimming, like Labradors like to, all the ducks follow him in and have fun too.”
