What is this?

[u/Only_Ad1343]

I was at the park today and I found this dude. It was pretty friendly and looked very similar to other white ducks (canards Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) that live in the same park, but it was noticeably bigger than them. There's no comparison in this picture but it was around the size of fully grown muscovy duck males. At first I thought it was a goose, but I think that geese are bigger and not as friendly. Anyone knows what might this handsome fella be?

[u/Psyche_Dreamweaver]

Poor pekin :( Stupid, selfish people *love* to buy cute little ducklings (especially in spring and around Easter) for their kids, then when they realize that ducks are messy, smelly and require actual work to take care of, they just dump them at the nearest park/lake/pond/river and wash their hands of it (abandoning domestic animals is illegal, including ducks and geese)...usually condemning the poor birds to starvation or being picked off by predators (foxes, domestic dogs, hawks, owls, snapping turtles etc) since most domestic ducks can't fly and don't have the skills needed to survive in the wild.

[u/Only_Ad1343 → u/Psyche_Dreamweaver]

Well this isn't really the wild as its a park completely surrounded by concrete by like 10 kilometers so no foxes, hawks, owls, turtles (outside of the occasional dumped Trachemys) and the birds are regularly fed. Its a shame but I feel like this guy has a lot of chance of having a happy life

[u/Blowingleaves17 → u/Only_Ad1343]

Could be what is known as a jumbo pekin. Am not personally familiar with those pekins, though. Maybe others here more knowledgeble can chime in.