She was shot, dragged by a dog, hung upside down and then left in a household refrigerator for two days, but the duck dubbed "Perky" seems now to be back from the dead after a startlingly quick recovery.
"I think right now her chances are really good, she's made it," Noni Beck, wildlife rehabilitator at the Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in Tallahassee, Florida, told smh.com.au this afternoon.
And not only is Perky on the road to recovery, it seems she's been guaranteed a comfortable life at a local reserve where she will spend her days educating Floridians on why shooting ducks--or at least shooting at them inaccurately - can have consequences.
"The odds are that this girl is not going back to the wild, the wing break is that bad," Ms Beck said.
"She will hopefully go to an education facility, and we have several here in Florida that have really nice habitats."
Perky was hit in the leg, neck and wing by a local hunter last weekend. Ms Beck said the duck was felled, carried back to the hunter by his dog, hung in a brace of dead ducks, taken to his house and placed in a refrigerator.
Two days later the hunter's wife went to the fridge.
"When she opened the door this little duck raised her head ... she immediately called her daughter and said they had to do something," said Ms Beck.
The daughter took the duck to a local vet for treatment and told Ms Beck the story.
The bird, a 450-gram dark brown Canadian ring-neck, which had flown to Florida for the cold months, was treated for pellet wounds, a broken wing and a broken leg.
After that she was given to Goose Creek for recovery.
One of the vets who has treated Perky, David Hale, said it was easy to understand how the hunter would have thought the duck was dead.
"This duck is very passive," Dr Hale said. "It's not like trying to pick up a Muscovy ... where you put your life in your hands."
Muscovies are large, South American ducks known for their aggressive behaviour.
Perky's ordeal immediately became big news, with websites, newspapers and television leaping on the story of her near miraculous survival.
Ms Beck said she had received numerous calls from people wanting to support Perky in her recovery, and some wanting to give her a name.
"Everybody's been calling her the Lucky Duck, but tonight one of my volunteers called and they want to name her Perky, because she really has gotten so much better."
Ms Beck also revealed Perky's saviour, the wife of the hunter, was coming to visit tomorrow.
"She's kind of excited that the duck can be saved. She said she really didn't like it [her husband's hunting] and she's already told him if he shoots something he better kill it because if he doesn't she's going to take it to a vet clinic."
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