This Yellow Lab Who Adopted 9 Orphaned Ducklings Is The Best Boy

Photos of Fred and his new duckling children will make you cry tears of joy

It’s gotta be a tough world out there for nine newly orphaned ducklings. Luckily for a brood of yellow fluff balls at a castle in Essex, UK, the world is full of heroes. One of those heroes just happens to be an adorable lab named Fred.

When staff at Mountfitchet Castle noticed the nine ducklings wandering the grounds without a mother, they were worried the poor babies had been orphaned. A little more time confirmed that sad thought: Mama duck never came back. So the castle staff took the tiny birds in. And their dog Fred, who is a Very Good Boy™, was ready to step up and do his part.

Just look at this hard-working single dad.

“We brought the ducklings into the house as they are too young to fend for themselves, and Fred just took them under his paw — rather than his wing,” castle owner Jeremy Goldsmith told BBC. “He’s got a lovely nature and has grown up around rescued animals.”

Goldsmith said Fred has been perfectly happy to be the new resident duckling babysitter, and that some of his favorite things are leading the baby birds into the castle moat to go swimming, and lounging in the sun with his body curled around his new duck children.

It will likely be another few weeks before the ducklings are old enough to strike off on their own, Goldsmith said. In the meantime, Fred seems perfectly content to be their guardian.

The story of 10-year-old Fred and his adopted offspring has gone viral, and obviously the internet has taken note of what a gosh darn good boy he is.

This isn’t even the first animal in need that Fred has taken charge of.

He may, in fact, be even more than just a Very Good Boy™. Fred may actually be The Best Boy™. Mountfitchet Castle tells Scary Mommy that as the ducklings grow up, “he still watches over them but they are becoming more independent now.” Baby ducklings all grown up, our hearts can barely take it.

Now someone please make Fred and the ducklings their own social media accounts, because we need a steady stream of photos of this perfect blended family.