Iraq War Veteran Faces Misdemeanor Charges for Owning Therapy Ducks

An Iraq War veteran may be in trouble for owning 14 ducks, and he’s hitting back — because he says they help him cope with PTSD and a back injury.

Darin Welker, an Army National Guardsman who was injured in 2005 and required years of physical therapy, faces a minor misdemeanor for violating an Ohio village ordinance that bans people from owning farm animals (and oddly, rabbits). However, Welker told the Marion Star that he needs the ducks for therapeutic purposes, even producing a letter from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs saying that the ducks are medically useful, treating both his back injury and recurring depression.

“Taking care of them is both mental and physical therapy,” he told the Star, adding that watching the ducks is “entertain[ing]for hours at a time.”

If he can get a doctor’s prescription for the ducks, Welker may be in the clear, thanks to a precedent set by a woman in the same village who got to keep her potbellied pig to help treat her scoliosis.

Watch him hang out with a bunch of ducks below, via The Marion Star:

[The Marion Star]
[Image via screenshot ]

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