THE residents of a picturesque fishing village are in turmoil over the mysterious disappearance of a local celebrity – Geoffrey the Duck.
Geoffrey has been a regular fixture in the Fife town for around six years and most of the local know him and feed him.
So the community was aghast last Saturday to discover that the bird had vanished into thin air.
Since then, locals have gone wild on social media with appeals for information about his fate, posting pictures of Geoffrey and images of “random” ducks in the hope one of them turns out to be the absent avian.
Geoffrey lives on The Dreel Burn, and is known to waddle about on Castle Street beach.
Posters have appeared about the pretty East Neuk village urging folk to help find the bird.
The appeal bears the word “Missing” in red capitals and ask: “Have you seen Geoffrey?”
“This much-loved local character hasn’t been seen at Castle Street beach/ Dreel Burn since approx Saturday 71th March 2018,” states the poster.
“His many human friends miss him and are worried about him. If anyone knows of his whereabouts please contact the facebook page.”
Anstruther mum-of-two Kirsty Black, one of those coordinating the search, said: “He has lived on the beach for five or six years and all the locals know him and feed him.”
Referring to the last confirmed sighting, she added sinisterly: “I saw someone lifting him on Saturday and nobody has seen him since.”
Others have claimed the duck-lifter was in fact a local Good Samaritan who took the duck home overnight to tend to him, after spotting he had a limp. Geoffrey is said to have been returned to the beach on Monday.
Kirsty added: “Nobody knows where he is now as he doesn’t fly far and he doesn’t do water, despite being a duck.”
Kirsty said that her two children Harris, eight and Isla, six, were missing Geoffrey terribly.
She added: “We used to feed him three times a day.”
Speculation on the Facebook page has suggested he has been ‘taken’.
Louise Stocker? posted a video of the duck on Anstruther beach taken on the 9th of February, where he can be seen visibly limping, and captioned it: “Hope he’ll be home soon.”
Jennifer Galloway wrote: “He was apparently seen up by the back of the Co-op the other morning.”
Carey Boyter wrote: “Has someone stolen him?”
John Walker joked: “What’s the quack? Ducking about here is he?”
The Facebook page ‘Where’s Geoffrey’ commented yesterday: “It’s rumoured that he was taken to live in Arncroach by someone who felt he wasn’t doing so well living at the beach.
“If the rumours are true we hope he is safe and well cared for. Lots of us are used to meeting him on a daily basis and just want to know he’s ok.”
