Chatham

Have you seen Teddy?

A giant yellow rubber duck called Teddy is missing.

The rubber duck was last seen travelling east on Highway 401 between Tilbury and Kent Bridge Road.

Owner Simon Shaw said the top half of the four-foot-long duck disappeared during a storm around 10 p.m. Friday evening.

"I fueled up at the Circle K in Tilbury and gave Teddy a pat on the beak, as I normally do," said Shaw. "He's very well built, but the storm was so bad, I couldn't see him. I decided I was going to check on him near London and when I went around the truck, he was gone."

Heartbroken by the discovery, Shaw said he immediately called the OPP to report the missing duck. He spent the next 27 hours driving up and down the highway looking for Teddy.

"I drove almost 2,000 kilometres looking for him but he vanished," said Shaw. "There was not a speck of yellow paint."

Teddy was built at Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park, a clothing-optional beach in Nova Scotia. The four-foot-long and two-foot-wide duck was built using basic tools, according to Shaw.

"It took me three weeks and I basically built him in a parking lot," said Shaw. "His full name is Teddy Ginsbird. I finished him the night of Hurricane Teddy, which is so ironic about him disappearing in a storm."

Shaw is an archetier, who builds, repairs, and restores the bows of instruments in the violin family. He said he built the duck as a way to cheer himself and everyone else up during the pandemic.

"I know he's just a trailer and I know I am a grown man, but it chokes me up," said Shaw. "If he's destroyed, I can accept it, but to not know what happened to him, really bothers me."

Shaw said he believes the big yellow duck is down in a ditch somewhere along the 43 kilometre stretch of highway. The two companions were getting ready to drive to Alaska and then drive to Chile.

Shaw is appealing to the public to keep an eye out for teddy and to contact him if the duck turns up. He can be contacted through Teddy's Instagram page or at 902-210-1985.

"It just breaks my heart. I am desperate and I am willing to go to any lengths to find Teddy duck."

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