Duck family (Disney) strip, Della writes to Donald that the boys had placed a firecracker under their father's chair as a prank and that their father had been sent to the hospital. This was the reason why the boys first showed up at Donald's house. Thereafter the father is generally assumed to have disappeared. In "The Richest Duck in the World", when Scrooge mentions that the few family members he had had disappeared, the boys respond "We know how "that" feels!" Donald's cousin Fethry Duck was created for the Disney Studio Program by Dick Kinney and Al Hubbard and was first used in
Donald Duck Mouse TV shorts for Disney Channel. Donald also appears in the "DuckTales" reboot, in which he is a main character as opposed to his limited role in the original cartoon. The series depicts him as having once been Scrooge's partner in adventure, apparently along with his sister; however, ten years prior to the series' beginning they went their separate ways and didn't speak throughout that time. Donald later reluctantly brings the triplets-whom he is the guardian of-to Scrooge's mansion so he can babysit them, though he clearly hasn't forgiven Scoorge for their past history. He ends up being hired by