Internet sleuths in hunt for viscountess’s duck killer identify ‘handful’ of suspects
Internet sleuths helping a viscountess in the hunt for the killer of her pet duck have identified “a handful” of suspects.
Julie Hinchingbrooke, the Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, claimed that Quackers, a white Indian Runner duck, was strangled to death on her country estate in Dorset last week by a woman whose dog had just attacked the bird.
Lady Hinchingbrooke said the bird was one of three Runner ducks at Mapperton House, near Beaminster, which were popular with visitors.
She said she had received 2,000 messages and emails after putting out an appeal on social media which had identified “a handful” of suspects.
Lady Hinchingbrooke and her husband Luke, the eldest son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich, have decided not to involve the police or the RSPCA because they only want an apology from the “duck strangler”.
“It must be somebody local because, number one, they weren’t going to the house and garden as a visitor,” Lady Hinchingbrooke told The Times. “She’s clearly coming here on a dog walk.
“It’s amazing what this has brought up, all these people trying to find out who the duck strangler is. We’ve probably been sent a handful of names so far.
“It’s a work in progress. I think give it a couple more days, and I don’t know, I feel pretty good about this.”
A gardener witnessed Quackers being attacked by a brown-and-white terrier dog in the Grade II-listed grounds of the Jacobean manor house.
A female dog walker is alleged to have then picked up the duck by its neck, strangled it and thrown its lifeless body into long grass.
Signs on the estate warn members of the public to keep dogs on a lead, which the dog walker appeared to have ignored. She was seen leaving in her car after the incident, which took place earlier this week, according to Lady Hinchingbrooke, who said: “We’ve had people suggesting dogs within the area that have been aggressive terriers, and you know, could this be the one?
“If we get a photo of the woman and the dog we can show that to the gardener who saw her, and hopefully we can identify her.
“There was obviously some part of her that just thought, ‘Well crikey, I’m not going to come clean with this, and so I’m going to throw it in the long grass’.”
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Quackers has since been buried in the garden. Lady Hinchingbrooke said last week, that two other Runner ducks on the estate, who with Quackers were known as “the three musketeers”, have been “running around looking for him”.
Lady Hinchingbrooke, who has 190,000 followers on Instagram and 223,000 subscribers on YouTube, has launched a GoFundMe page to raise £20,000 to make a new wetland habitat to attract wild ducks in memory of Quackers.
At the time of writing, £380 had been donated.
Mapperton House is set in 1,900 acres of grounds which has cattle, chickens and ducks among its animals. It has recently been conducting a rewilding project.