VOLUNTEERS leapt into action to save a duck which had a plastic ring lodged in its mouth.

A walker spotted the duck in Shoebury Park Lake, on Sunday, with a bottle ring around its beak and digging into its neck. meaning it couldn’t eat.

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Saved - the duck in Shoebury Park Lake

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Painful - the members worked on the duck

The lady quickly posted of the bird’s plight on Tilly’s Cloud, an animal rescue Facebook group for south Essex.

Group members sprung into action and in the pitch darkness on Sunday night went to the lake to find the duck.

One volunteer, Ryan Rees Pritchett, went along with waders and waterproofs while another lady took her night vision equipment as others went to lend a hand.

The team couldn’t catch the duck on Sunday, so RSPCA experts were booked to attend on Monday morning.

But not ones for waiting, the Tilly’s Cloud team arranged to meet at the lake at 6.30am and managed to catch the duck by lunchtime.

Mr Pritchett said: “Mark from Lost and Found Pets of Great Wakering stayed with the equipment to make sure nobody took it while I and Tilly Woods, a local veterinary nurse, and member of the Tilly’s Cloud group tried to catch the duck for hours.

“The RSPCA inspector Joe arrived at midday and half an hour later and we got him with Tilly lying right next to the bank, me tempting him with bread and Joe waiting for the right moment to grab him. It was a total team effort. The piece of plastic was a washer which was caught under the ducks tongue and his mouth looked infected.”

The duck was taken to Orsett Wildlife Hospital.

Mark Davies, of Great Wakering Lost and Found Pets, warned: “There is a disgraceful amount of discarded waste in that lake and some of it is dangerous to wildlife.

“Ryan and Tilly picked up two bags of rubbish and I pulled a discarded fishing net out of the water. If you look at the parks on the surface they look clean but the poor animals injured on Shoebury Park Lake by discarded rubbish show a very different side to the cleanliness and safety of the park.”