Stumpy the duck loses one of his four legs

6:01pm Thursday 19th April 2007

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STUMPY, the Hampshire duck which became famous around the world after being born with four legs, has lost one of its extra limbs after getting caught in its pen.

Stumpy caught the media's attention worldwide after it was born at the Warrawee Duck Farm in the New Forest on February 7.

The good thing that has come out of it is that he can now roam the farm and he and his girlfriend duck Alice are harassing the others

Farm owner Nicky Janaway

After catching one of its extra limbs in its special pen, the duck is now down to only three legs.

However, the accident has led to a positive outcome for Stumpy, because now it can roam the farm free with the other ducks because it is no longer at risk of being caught in hedges, which could have put its life in danger.

Farm owner Nicky Janaway said: "He's now only got three legs and a stump which means he's Stumpy by name and stumpy by nature.

"He got the leg caught in the pen fencing, he clean snapped it but he had no idea anything had happened so he may not have had any sensation in it.

"We whisked him off to the vet who finished off what he had started and cleaned it up.

"The good thing that has come out of it is that he can now roam the farm and he and his girlfriend duck Alice are harassing the others.

"It has given him his freedom because if he had got his leg stuck in a hedge like he did in the pen, I would never have found him. The other leg is tucked up so it has no chance of getting stuck."

Mrs Janaway said she was gobsmacked when she first turned Stumpy over after it hatched to find out its sex and was confronted by all those legs.

She said: "It was absolutely bizarre. I was thinking 'he's got too many legs' and I kept counting '1,2,3,4'."

The mutation is rare but cases have been recorded across the world.

One duckling called Jake was born in Queensland in Australia in 2002 with four legs but he died soon after.