In the tiny town of Strout, Minnesota, there’s a friendship made for movie screens.
Meet Max The Husky and Quackers The Duck. This unlikely tandem has brought joy not only to the 25 people living in their town but also to the travelers taking the lonely road through it.
Max was adopted by Patrick and Kirsten Riley when he was five years old. Back then, he used to play with Sasha, another husky that the Rileys owned. But when Sasha passed away, Max was left all alone.
At that time, the Rileys took in a new member of the family.
Quackers, who also lost a couple of buddies along the way, entered Max’s lonely life.
“He was without any friends, and so Max would sit next to his pen all the time and I think they just kind of bonded that way,” Patrick shared with CBS. “After we let him out, they just never left each other’s side.”
With the two of them knowing the pain of loss, they decided to stick together.
Even if their difference is quite apparent, the two of them found a way to do things as a tandem. Habits quickly formed between them, and as years went by, the two became practically inseparable.
For the people taking care of Max and Quackers, it is not unusual to hear the sound of paws followed by the tapping of webbed feet.
The occasional howls are punctuated by quacks, and shedding might be accompanied by tufts of feathers.
“They sleep together, they eat together, they drink together, they go for walks together down the road. Everything is together,” Kirsten said to the news outlet.
The road that Kristen was talking about is the lonely countryside route called Highway 28.
The seemingly uninteresting stretch of asphalt has become an unofficial tourist site because people were taking pictures of two animals hanging around on the side of the road.
“We see people stopping over there all the time. The traffic gets clogged up over there sometimes because of all the pictures getting taken,” one of their neighbors said.
Kristen expressed her joy because her pets are brightening people’s day just by being their natural friendly selves.
This kind of friendship, fortunately, is not as uncommon as you think.
Pam Ishiguro also owns a doggie-duck tandem known as Barclay the golden retriever and Rudy the duck. The two are so fond of each other that Rudy doesn’t get snarled on whenever he’s waking Barclay up with a ton of pecking.
In Belgium, an orangutan became friends with a group of small-clawed otters. In Bangladesh, a rhino and a sheep became best buddies. In Russia, a dog even nursed a tiger.
Different places, same stories of friendship. And we believe that this is the most important story Max and Quackers can leave us.
If they can put their obvious differences aside and live together and harmony, why can’t we?
In the meantime, Max and Quackers will continue to sit on the side of that country road made special by a friendship that goes beyond species.
Watch how this duo’s unexpected friendship became a legendary tale and a tourist attraction in the video below!
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