Is this normal behaviour for a 9 year old child?

Children's cruelty to animal, contrary to what everyone say here, is "normal". It's their own approach and experiment of death. Now 9 year old is pretty old to still be doing something like that. She needs her parents to talk to her about what she did.

Punishing her without explaining anything would just be useless. She needs to understand that she made an animal suffer, she needs to express why she did that, if she was happy to do it, what she was trying to understand by doing this. It's very important that her parents don't judge her but help her instead understand why it's wrong and why it's essential that she never does this again.

He sounds as if he has Asperger's. I have a little 8 year old neighbor who has Asperger's and she is EXACTLY like you describe. She is the loveliest young lady but she just doesn't pick up nuances at all. Her parents didn't just didn't want to admit that there was anything "wrong" with her and refused to get her tested and because she wasn't socially inclined, they didn't put her in social situations. It wasn't until her 1st and 2nd grade teachers really started pushing the issue that they finally agreed to testing and getting her into more social situations. People think if you get a child tested and the child is "labeled" that it is a bad thing but getting a diagnosis actually opens doors and services for the child and gives the child more opportunities then he or she would otherwise have.

I know a girl who was seven and pushed a frog underwater to see how long it could hold it's breath and ended up killing it.

Was the child purposefully trying to hurt or kill the animal? If not, she was probably just playing with it like the girl I know and needs to understand that ducklings and other animals are fragile and should not be played with like that.

If she was trying to drown it, she either learned to do this from somebody else or has prolems and frustraions at home that need to be worked out. Either way, she needs a talk.

That's hard. I would be concerned, but don't be dramatic. I knew boys who used to get their bb gun & shoot at squirrels because they thought it was funny. I knew boys who weren't very nice to cats & did mean things to them to entertain themselves. I also knew a girl who wrote a mean and graphic letter that was somewhat violent to a sibling, because she was so angry at her. They all grew up perfectly normal, with no history of violence or any criminal activity. Some kids do things out of curiosity, or because they see it from somewhere else, or just because they can't comprehend the bad they are doing/don't comprehend how this really affects what they are picking on. If the behavior continues more & more, or gets more violent, than I would start to worry. For now, explain to the child how that harms the duck, how the duck feels, what bad could happen from it, etc. You need to get her in touch with her inner feelings and the feelings of others.

Something to worry about big time- Not only did she delibertely injure an animal, she attmepted to drown it. This was an act of pent up frustrations and rage that have clearly been building for quite some time. Usually when a person abuses an animal its to take their anger out because they are too fearful to go after the source thats causing their anger, in other words shes clearly been abused and is choosing to unleash this trauma on innocent animals.

If this behaviour is not stopped, she will move onto harming/killing humans.

It might not be. She could have ODD disorder which is when you think of more violent stuff to do. If you checked and she doesn't have it, it's a problem. She may be having a problem at school or at home or even on the internet and she is so mad she takes it out on animals. Talk to it, consult a doctor or pschyciatrist (sorry I can't spell it) and tell her mother or father (unless you are her mother or father).

awww.. :'( poor duckling..

No, I think the girl has some problems. When I was 9 I liked animals SOOOO much :3

I absolutely adored them :D It may be she doesn't like the duckling but an NORMAL child wouldn't really want to drown it.

i'd be a little worried :s i have 3 nephews and the youngest one is nearly 4 and even he knows its wrong to hurt animals and certainly wouldnt ever try and drown a poor baby duckling. Maybe take him to see a professional if things like this continue to happen, it will make him happier and he wont be hurting anything else. :) x

OMG. No, duh! If I was that baby duckling I would bite her head off! She needs some serious thearapy! When I was nine, I had a pet hamster, and any time my brother would even get close to it, I would kick him!

NO IT IS NOT A 'MISTAKE' SHE DID IT ON PURPOSE.

SHE IS POSSESED BY THE DEVIL.

YES, IT IS. SHE IS THE DEVIL.

No that's not normal and it's definitely something to worry about.