While not everyone dares to eat balut, it’s a popular dish that’s considered very nutritious here in Vietnam. It is for this reason that Vietnamese often donate this delicacy to frontline workers who are working hard to fend off the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping that eating the baluts will give them more energy.
But sometimes things just don’t go as planned. In a hilarious twist, soldiers working in a quarantine facility in Vietnam have found themselves the unexpected owners of a pack of pet ducklings when baluts donated to them hatched due to the hot weather.
It would appear that instead of having a nutritious meal as intended, the soldiers now have the additional task of raising the newborn ducklings.
They didn’t seem to mind, though. If anything, it’s the exact opposite. In a picture, a female soldier looks delighted as she holds a couple of ducklings in her hand. Though we can’t see her smile because she was wearing a mask, her eyes say she was grinning from ear to ear.
Image credit: Chu Nguyễn
They have also made use of a table lamp to keep their new pets warm.
Image credit: Chu Nguyễn
The story, that resembles what a Filipina netizen experienced with her balut egg as well, has been shared on many Facebook pages over the past few days, giving netizens a good laugh.
Netizen Van Hoang has a clever pun on this, saying that in addition to fighting COVID-19, the soldiers now also have to take care of “cô vịt” as well. “Cô vịt” translates to “Ms. duck” in Vietnamese, and is also a wordplay on the term “COVID”.
Image credit: Chu Nguyễn
Another Facebook user, Jenny Dan, whimsically said, “When you are destined to have a pet, you can’t escape it.”
Image credit: Chu Nguyễn
The newborn ducklings surely give the soldiers a much-needed morale boost as they continue to stare the COVID-19 pandemic straight in the eyes every day. Happy incidents like these remind us that life still goes on, and as long as we are all in this together, we will overcome difficult times eventually.
For more COVID-19 stories, check out:
Cover image adapted from Chu Nguyễn
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