Man saves baby duckling but now duck refuses to leave new life & dad that raised him
This is the sweetest thing! Cheerio spends his time roaming around with his friends outside when his dad is at work but always comes back home at the end of the day when he knows his dad is back from work.
Before meeting Cheerio, Steven Thibeault probably never thought he would have a duck for a tenant at the apartment complex he runs in Nahant, Massachusetts.
When Thibeault first met Cheerio, he was just a duckling all alone struggling not to drown in the complex’s pool.
Thankfully Thibeault was able to scoop the tiny bird up out of the pool and make sure he was OK.
Thibeault attempted to reunite Cheerio with his mom but mom was nowhere to be found.
Knowing that Cheerio wouldn’t be able to survive on his own, Thibeault decided to take him home and care for him.
He assumed that he would be able to release the duckling back into the wild one day. Cheerio, however, had other plans.
He decided that he was going to be Thibeault’s new best buddy who would always be around.
That’s because even though Cheerio is free to roam, he always comes back to Thibeault’s house. Cheerio goes outside when Thibeault goes to work.
That’s his time to fly around, go for a swim in the ocean, or hang out with the other ducks.
But no matter what, Cheerio always comes back home to his human dad at night.
“He is pretty much on my schedule so we come to work, he spends most of the day outside and after work we go home,” Thibeault told The Dodo. “He does have a social life, he has spent time with other ducks which makes me happy, but at the end of the day he chooses me. That could change one day but that’s up to him.”
Cheerio actually has a lot of duck friends. “He gets along great with other ducks, especially males,” Thibeault said.
“He is a little shy when it comes to the ladies at this point in his life but hopefully that will change. He also hangs out with other duck and geese species like eider ducks, mallards and brant geese who spend their winters here in Nahant. He also has a few seagull buddies too.”
He also gets along pretty well with his grandparents’ dog. Cheerio has quickly become everyone’s favorite tenant at the complex.
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Cheerio used to spend most of his time perched upon his dad’s shoulder. But now he’s a little too big for that.
“Needless to say I don’t spend as much time up there as I use to!” Cheerio said on his Instagram page.
But don’t let Cheerio fool you, he still has his dad wrapped around his webbed feet. Thibeault will practically do anything for his feathery friend, who has now become more like a member of the family than one of his tenants.
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