A rescue dog named Oscar made headlines not for his acting, but for an egg theft that resulted in a duckling. The black labrador cross, adopted from a foster home in Sussex, had a habit of stealing duck eggs from a small lake on his owners’ property. However, one October morning in 2017, he brought an intact egg to his owners instead of eating it.
Oscar’s owner, who prefers to remain unnamed, initially thought the egg was old and would stink if broken. But when his wife Lara took the egg from Oscar’s mouth, they heard tapping from inside. A duck breeder friend advised them to get an incubator, but while waiting, they kept the egg warm on an Aga cooker.
Two days later, the egg hatched into a tiny Indian runner duck, which they named Mickey Magic. The duck lived indoors for five months, sitting on the sofa with Oscar and the other dogs, watching TV. Eventually, Mickey was moved to a coop with hens, where she thrived.
Oscar passed away three years ago, but Mickey—later discovered to be female and renamed Michaela—is still alive and has become a great-grandmother. The owner, a patron of the RSPCA, emphasised the importance of knowing a rescue animal’s history to meet their needs.
