A duck and her ducklings walk onto a court at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London. Photo / Reuters
LONDON - At least one happy family was singing in the rain at Wimbledon yesterday.
A mother duck and her four fluffy ducklings have been reunited during a dramatic tournament.
The family were first spotted last week waddling on to one of the outside courts when play was,
yet again, interrupted by rain.
The mother flew off in alarm when officials approached the ducks to shoo them off court.
So animal protection officers stepped in and took the ducklings to a local sanctuary.
The ducklings were then brought back to Wimbledon and released on the golf course opposite the All England Club.
There was a heart-warming reunion when the mother flew back and the family have now settled in well on the golf course," a Wimbledon spokesman said on Monday.
The spokesman was quick to insist that the appearance of duck on the menu at one of the tournament's restaurants was "entirely coincidental."
British newspapers had a field day with the story when the ducklings were first collected.
The tabloid Sun newspaper named them Boris Beaker, Roger Featherer, John Quackenroe and Andy Rodduck. The mother was inevitably named Virgina Wade.
The paper also said the ducks "ruffled a few feathers yesterday when rain stopped play", looked "quackers" for more action, were being "egged on" by fans and so they had officials "in a flap."
- REUTERS
