At nine o’clock on Saturday morning my mobile phone rang and I was told of a newborn duckling in trouble on the beach. Immediately I found the duckling and began a search for the rest of her family but to no avail.

I brought the duckling back to our center to nest with the twenty-seven ducklings that we are already caring for and the baby ate well, drank water and recovered her strength quickly.

Later that day I received a call saying that a mother duck with nine ducklings had been spotted on the same spot where our lone duckling had been found. It seemed best to bring the family back to our center. We now have a total of thirty-seven ducklings in our garden and we know that there will surely be more because there are so many cats that roam our beaches, as well as so many seagulls that swoop down on the tiny newborns.

Over the years the ducks of Amorgos beach have been fed by locals and the adults do well but the babies are easy prey for predators. This is why we bring them back our garden, where they are safe and fed and given water until they are large enough to protect themselves. At that point we release them back into the colony.

We need your support and we ask for your donation. Even one euro is valuable to us and to the animals in our care. We are grateful to have so many online friends! Thank you for joining us to care for the animals of the island of Amorgos.