The Star: January 18, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday January 18 2018 15
News
Missy turns up on the web
• By Bridget Rutherford
POLLY, FRANCES or Missy.
Whatever her name, if this
duck could talk, she would have
a quacker tale to tell.
After going missing for about
three weeks, the muscovy duck
was reunited with her Mairehau
owner Gail Reeves.
But little did Ms Reeves know
her Missy had become someone
else’s Polly long before that.
The fouryear-old
fowl
had spent so
much time
in the stream
that runs next
to Merivale’s
Webb St, she
became a
street pet.
Barry Helem
Webb St
resident
Vanessa Irvine said the duck
had been there most days since
December 2014, when ducklings
hatched at neighbour’s were
released into the stream.
Residents named her Polly,
and fed her every day.
But in September, she went
missing. A resident saw a woman
gently pick her up from the
stream and walk away with her.
POPULAR: The SPCA posted a video of the duck on its
Facebook page to try and track down its original owners.
“She had been there for such
a long time I just thought, ‘oh
where’s she gone?’” Ms Irvine
said.
“Not that she’s ours, but we
kind of felt like she was. She was
kind of like a pet to us.”
Ms Irvine said initially the
street wanted to know where she
went and if she was okay.
She was surprised Polly and
Missy were the same duck, as
she was at Webb St so often, and
didn’t appear to fly.
Although they were sad about
not seeing the duck again, at
least she was at home being
looked after, Ms Irvine said.
SPCA southern region general
manager Barry Helem said a
concerned person picked Missy
up thinking she was owned and
missing and asked the SPCA to
collect her.
After posting a video of
the duck, which staff named
Frances, on its Facebook page
and Pets on the Net, the SPCA
received a tip she may belong to
a Webb St address.
“Our staff visited the block of
units at the address provided
GOOD TIMES THIS
SUMMER
and door knocked. Of the eight
units, only one person answered
and stated there was a duck that
has been in the area and is fed
by the neighbours but is not
technically owned,” Mr Helem
said.
“The original owner then came
forward to claim the duck.”
Ms Reeves, who owns several
muscovy ducks, turkeys and
chickens, said she was grateful
the Webb St residents helped
look after her.
“I noticed she had gotten a bit
fatter.
“She’d fly in and out, I couldn’t
control her so when I got her
back I clipped one wing.”
She said Missy was full of
personality, and now had two
ducklings.
“She dances and bobs her head
from side to side. It’s like dancing,
she’s like a little rapper.”
It’s not the first time one of Ms
Reeves’ pets had gone missing.
She was reunited with her cat
Thomasa 16 months after she
went missing during the February
22, 2011, earthquake.
Thomasa, originally known as
Thomas, later featured in Quake
Cats: Heartwarming stories of
Christchurch Cats.
$223k for
museum bug
collection
CANTERBURY Museum has
been awarded $223,095 for a
project to catalogue and provide
access to 140,000 invertebrate
specimens.
The money was granted by the
Lottery Grants Board for the second
stage of the project.
Museum research fellow Peter
Johns has collected the specimens
over 57 years. The nationally and
internationally-significant collection
includes craneflies, weta,
millipedes and centipedes from all
over New Zealand.
In 2015, the first phase of the
project was awarded a $203,852
lottery grant. The project team
is on track to catalogue 70,000
records by March and the aim is to
catalogue the second 70,000 specimens
over the next two years.
The data, information and
specimens will be made available
to universities, research organisations
including Landcare and
NIWA, the Department of Conservation,
Ministry for Primary
Industries and regional councils.
Museum director Anthony
Wright said the collection would
add to the current knowledge of
the status of the country’s invertebrate
fauna.