Labrador adopted nine orphaned ducklings
This labrador adopted nine orphaned ducklings in the United Kingdom [Representative Image]Creative Commons

After many reports of barbaric incidents of animal abuse, this is the kind of story that proves why animals are still better than humans in real life.

Recently BBC reported that a 10-year-old labrador has adopted nine orphaned ducklings in Essex, United Kingdom. The beautiful story of the resident dog of Mountfitchet Castle has gone viral across social media platforms.

The ducklings were seen waddling around while their mother was not found anywhere. And that's when Fred stepped in to babysit the ducklings.

Mountfitchet Castle took to Facebook to describe the entire incident. They wrote, "Fred the resident dog at the Castle stepped up to the challenge when nine little ducklings became orphaned last Thursday. The ducklings' mum had disappeared and a member of staff found them waddling around the castle grounds alone."

The ducklings reportedly sleep in the dog basket with Fred. They even follow him for a swim in the castle moat.

Fred's owner Jeremy Goldsmith said, "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. He's got a lovely nature and has grown up around rescued animals."

A video was shared on the Facebook page of the Mountfitchet Castle, which has already earned nearly 21 thousand views at the time of writing this article.

A few pictures of Fred were shared on the popular Twitter account, We Rate Dogs. And it received over 1 lakh likes.