Things Are Just Ducky!

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So, last Thursday I had kind of a stressful day.

My husband was scheduled for a medical procedure where he would have to be put under complete sedation. Amongst other things, this test was to be sure he didn’t have anything ‘bad’ going on inside his body. I tried not to show it, but I was seriously worried.

Thankfully, the procedure went well and all appears to be under control. However, he did need some prescription medicine. So, after I got him home and resting in bed, I headed off to the grocery store to get his prescription filled and do a little grocery shopping. After picking up some meat, ice cream, cottage cheese, wine and milk, I headed home.

Forgive me while I go into details about the scene I’m going to describe. One of the main roads in my neighborhood is a four-lane street with a raised center divider. There are also left turn lanes at the intersections. This roadway is fairly busy and people drive way faster than they should. On each side of the road there is vegetation of grass, plants and shrubs. The center divider also has flowers, trees, and plants. It’s a lovely neighborhood.

I’m driving home from the market and see some road-kill in the street. I don’t look too closely, because it always breaks my heart to see the dead animals. I come to a signal-controlled intersection. The intersection is a ‘T’ configuration with the top part of the ‘T’ being on the four-lane road, and the ‘support’ section of the ‘T’ being a side street.
I’m in the number #1 (left) lane of the street. There is one car in front of me, and one car in the lane next to me. There is no one directly next to me. We are all stopped at a red light.

The light changes and the car in front of me surges ahead. Suddenly, a gaggle of ducklings veers from beneath that car and heads toward the car in the #2 lane that is now beginning to accelerate forward. I’m thinking I’m going to witness a duckling massacre, but the little guys were fast and got out of the way of that car in the nick of time by running back my way. I put on my hazard lights and put my car in park and start to get out of my car. Which sends the little guys back into the #2 lane.

I look in my rear-view mirror and I see a car fast approaching in the #2 lane. I did what any normal human being would do…I pulled my car across both lanes of traffic, which had the desired effect of slowing down and stopping all the approaching traffic. It would have been better if I’d been in a police car though. Anyway…

I’ve got traffic stopped in two of the lanes of traffic and I’m in the middle of this intersection trying to shoo the ducklings out of the traffic lanes. Another lady is on the sidewalk encouraging me, but she has a young daughter with her and I don’t think she wanted to have her daughter in the street.

I have to say, I haven’t lost my command presence since I’ve been retired. I had all four lanes of traffic at a stop, plus one poor woman on the side street. A lone duckling had gotten under her car and I kept telling her not to move. Thankfully, she was okay with that. Surprisingly, not one car honked or moved – even when the light changed.

Finally I got the ducklings up on the sidewalk, but not before I’d lost two who’d slid into the storm drain. Meanwhile, about seven other people had stopped to help – one of them being a woman who worked in an animal hospital. She had a crate where we began placing the ducklings after we caught them.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking of my husband – who needs his meds and worry that my ice cream is melting. I tell the crew I have to go, but I’ll be back.

I go home, my husband is on the phone, I throw his meds to him, and tell him I’ll be back. I get my groceries and throw the perishables in the freezer and fridge.

On my way back to the scene, I stop at the nearby fire station and begin banging on the door. No one came. Luckily a rescue ambulance returns to the station. I explain to the paramedics what’s going on and that we’ve got two ducklings in the storm drain. To my relief they seem eager to help out.

The paramedics get to the scene and make short work of opening the storm drain. One of the men lowers himself into the hole and after a few minutes comes up with one of the ducklings. Unfortunately, the other duckling was afraid and ran down an off-shoot of the storm drain.

In total, I think we rescued eight ducklings. Sadly, the ‘road kill’ was the mother duck and one duckling.

One of my fellow rescuers was going to take the ducklings to a wildlife animal refuge where the ducklings would be raised by hand until they were ready to be set free.

When I got home, I apologized to my husband and explained where I’d been. When I got to the point in the story about getting out of my car, stopping traffic, and duck wrangling, he clapped his hands and said, “Good for you! You did the right thing.”

I still worry about the duckling that ran down the storm drain. In fact, I’ve been back several times to see if I could see him/her. Yes, I’ve got a soft heart…but don’t tell anyone!

KMA 367

33 thoughts on “Things Are Just Ducky!”

  1. Kathy – your description of the duck wrangling had me tearing up, laughing and then applauding you!! Oh my goodness, I can just see you stopping traffic for the ducklings. You saved lives that day! Those little guys were lucky you came along when you did, you softie!

    • Hi Charlene!

      Welcome back!

      Yeah, I was always one of the cops who didn’t mind directing traffic. I WAS amazed that no one seemed to mind waiting while I was running around in the middle of the street. They were probably in their cars laughing hysterically!

      Thanks for stopping by.

    • Hi Robena!

      Welcome back!

      My granddaughter says I’m just ‘crazy’ – I don’t need duck stories! I’m glad I was able to help get them rounded up and out of the street. They wouldn’t have lasted long out there.

      Thanks for taking time to comment.

  3. Kathy,

    What a great story! I know that there are people out there who won’t even try to miss an animal in the street. Who think nothing of running some poor duck or dog or cat over. It fills my heart with such relief and joy that there are people out there who will go above and beyond to save little ducklings. It somehow makes everything all right.

    Thank you.

    • Hi Samantha!

      Welcome!

      I will never forget a story that a man told me many years ago (to impress my husband and myself) about taking kittens and putting them in a box in the middle of the street to be hit by cars.

      I was NOT impressed. I learned later he suffered a drawn out death. I call that karma.

      Thanks for visiting and I hope you’ll come back.

      • Kathy,

        I just realized I owe you 50 push ups! (I’m on the KoD tour.) I can’t believe someone would put a box of kittens in the street. It’s just as easy to take it to a store or vet or shelter with a note “free kittens” on the outside, right? Putting it in the street not only is inhuman, it actually endangers lives (beyond the kittens’). That’s complete insanity. I’m glad Karma got him.

  4. I have really soft spot for animals. You are my hero, to care about something so small and they will never know what you did. Thank you for sharing. I wished more people cared about the animals and people that are helpless. Thank you for caring!

    • Hi Mary!

      Welcome back!

      I’m a huge animal lover. I’m not a hero – there were plenty of other people who jumped in to help. If you’ve never tried, it isn’t easy to capture baby ducks – they’re fast!

      Thanks for taking time from your date to visit and comment.

    • Hi Christine!

      Welcome back!

      At the time it didn’t seem quite so enchanting. I was so disheartened when I saw the two slip down the storm drain. However, when I think of the other possible outcomes the results weren’t too bad.

      Thankfully, my husband loves animals as much as I do. But it makes it dangerous to go to Petsmart on adoption day!

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

    • Hi Christine!

      Welcome back!

      All the people commenting on this blog ‘get it.’ I’m hoping to reach the folks who would just drive their cars on the roadway not worrying about what was in the way.

      I appreciate you taking time from your day to visit.

  7. Oh, Kathy, what a story. And I could just see you blocking traffic and taking charge. Once a cop always a cop… But in this case. you’re a hero!

    Thanks for sharing. Hope your DH is doing just great!

  8. Hi Donnell!

    Welcome back!

    Hubby is doing okay. More tests to be done.

    Nope, I’m no hero. I AM an animal lover. I know when I was a cop, I often annoyed partners if a call came out about an animal being abused. I’d buy the call and search for at least an hour for the suspect and injured animals.

    Thanks for your comments and taking the time stop by.

  9. I totally understand that. One time while driving on the 710 going south a dog appeared. I pulled over to the right as did several other people. The dog was terrified and avoided us, but finally got into a car that had stopped in the middle of the freeway.

    Totally relieved that the dog was off the freeway and safe rather than dead and even better, there were no accidents caused by the whole thing.

    You are those ducklings hero and of course one of mine.

  10. Hi Maria!

    Welcome back!

    Oh, dogs on the freeway are the worst. It’s a wonder with drivers in Los Angeles everyone involved wasn’t killed. Job well done, Maria and I’m glad you survived – you hero, you!

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

  12. Awesome job, Kathy. I’m sorry you couldn’t save them all but you saved most. As as lover of animals, I thank you for them. My hero.

    • Hi Pat!

      Welcome back!

      No matter how much we do, we always want to do more. That’s why we’ve got 3 dogs and 2 cats!

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

  13. Don’t worry about the lost duckling Kath – he’ll get down to the LA sewer and hang with the mutants for a while. He’ll mutate into this 7 foot duck that will terrorize LA but you’ll be spared because he’ll remember that you tried to save his life once!!! ;o)

  14. Hi Mia!

    Welcome!

    Ha ha! Your response is what lets me know you have the imagination to be a fantastic writer!

    I’d love it if your story were true…at least I’d know about the duck!

    Thanks for coming by and commenting.

  15. Kathy, you are an inspiration. I was half an hour late to work last week because of a runaway dog that was crossing traffic on Ventura Blvd. About 5 or 6 other good Samaritans stopped to help as well, and one of them finally managed to get the dog in their van…. I was just so worried I was going to see that little doggie get hit by a car, so at one point I stopped traffic. Before hopping into the road, I made sure the cars were far enough away to see me in time to stop safely, but my hubby still chewed me out about it. In his mind, he was just worried he was going to see ME get hit by a car.

  16. Hi Laura!

    Welcome!

    It’s so distressing to see animals on the roadway. They’re usually frightened and disoriented. Dogs are tough too, because they’re excited and defensive and may bite their rescuers.

    I applaud your efforts – although I think your hubby is right…Ventura Blvd is a dicey place to be stopping traffic. Good job!

    Thanks for commenting and posting.

  17. But you never did mention what happened to the ice cream! jk

    So glad your husband is doing okay, and (most of) the ducklings are going somewhere they will be cared for. I dread seeing roadkill, especially dogs and cats that could be somebody’s pet, but worry about becoming it, myself, should I try to do something about it. Instead I’ve put the number on speed-dial on my phone.

    Bravo for you for conducting the rescue.

    • Hi Beverly!

      Welcome back!

      Oh, uh, the ice cream? It was consumed and is now resting comfortably on my thighs. It was perfectly fine to eat!

      Thanks for stopping by.

  19. My cheers to you, Kathy! I once was there when 2 baby ducklings were lost down a storm drain and I didn’t know what to do. Now, I know: I’d contact the Small Animal Rescue Team of LA Animal Services. But you did everything just right!

    • Hi Linda!

      Welcome back!

      The story was a little more complicated than I originally wrote. Animal Services were called, but said it could be hours before they got there. We had the other ducklings in the crate and I don’t think anyone was eager to wait for an unknown determined amount of time.

      I knew the fire department could get down in that storm drain…thankfully we hit on two guys with compassion. I was remiss in not naming Paramedics Bowman and Chapin in my original story.