Anyone who has seen a duck dabbing, diving and peacefully preening on a pond would never deny them access to water. After all, with webbed feet and hollow bones, nature designed them perfectly to swim. Sadly, some ducks never swim, nor even dunk their heads in water. The truth of the commercial duck farming industry is far from what you may imagine when you think of your local duck pond. Shockingly, sometimes the only time the duck gets to dip its wings in water, is the very moment it is slaughtered.
It is estimated that 14 million ducks are farmed for meat each year in the UK, living only 40 to 60 days before their lives are cut tragically short. They never get the chance to swim or to feel the water on their feathers, many don’t ever go outside in daylight.