Vancouver Duck Lady
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Vancouver Duck Lady | personality, legend | Since 1980, a woman named Laura-Kay Prophet has been seen pushing her “duck” carriage around Vancouver. Over those years she has cared for 9 different ducks. First there was Harvey (1980-1986); followed by Webster and Holly (a bonded pair); then a series of Bobbies’ (I – V); and now her current duck, Bobbie VI. Prophet says that all the ducks she has raised over the years have helped to light up her dark days living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Life with MS can be challenging and isolating, but having these ducks, Prophet says, forces her to go out and socialize. She says they take care of her just as much as she takes care of them. This could also be said of the people she helps with the non-profit charity she started called “Duck $oup”. It started when ‘Bobbie I’ started laying a couple of eggs a day. Prophet boiled them and gave them away to people in need. But she didn’t want to just give away boiled eggs, so she added sandwiches and other food and created a fun “lottery” by hiding money in cookies. Every month she gives away $1-100 dollars in cash, depending on her own finances in any given month. Prophet says it’s in her nature to give and to make people feel good, helping to create self-esteem. In return, it makes her feel good and helps with her own self-esteem. Several short films have been made about the Vancouver Duck Lady. She was a featured “eccentric” in John Zaritsky’s 2014 film, A Different Drummer: Celebrating Eccentrics and the subject of a Vancouver Film School short called The Duck and The Prophet (below).
Usage: “I saw the Vancouver Duck Lady on the bus today and she was just about the sweetest thing in the whole wide world…”
Laura-Kay Prophet 