Over 2,000 ducks saved days after floods sweep away 20,000 in China

A flock of about 2,000 missing ducks swept away from a farm after heavy rains have been found floating in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

As many as 20,000 ducks were reportedly swept away by flooding caused by a rainstorm on May 26 from a farm at Baiquan Street in Dongxihu District, Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.

"The ducks were due for market in a few days. Each duck could fetch about 35 yuan. This is a loss of over 700,000 yuan," farmer Huang Shengli said.

In the days that followed, riverside residents, anglers, sailors and patrolmen all helped search for the missing ducks.

Almost 11 days after their "mass escape," some good news finally emerged! On June 5, Li Bangwen, a Yangtze River patrol assistant in Wangjiang County, Anqing City, east China's Anhui Province, sent a message to a reporter that he had spotted about 2,000 of the missing ducks floating in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

With the addition of the 2,000 ducks found on June 5, more than 4,000 ducks have been recovered in total so far, avoiding more than 100,000 yuan in losses for the farmer.