May 2007

I enjoyed the following email, which I received from Mark Penn, a client whom I matched with his partner Brian Suwada several years ago. I thought that you might like it too:

On Saturday morning (4/21) I was driving westbound on the freeway.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a mother duck with several baby ducklings walking in the gutter along the roadway.  The babies were too small to get up on the curb so there was no way for them to get out of the street.

Traffic was busy and I couldn’t stop quickly enough to be of help, but I drove around and returned to the site, parking on the opposite side of the roadway.  The ducks were still walking in the gutter.  I approached very slowly from behind trying not to scare them, but hoping to somehow help the babies get up onto the curb and out of harm’s way.

Just as I was reaching the family, they came up on a sewer grate in the road.  Mother duck hopped over it, but the babies, all of them, tumbled into the sewer.  I looked into the sewer and was crestfallen to see that although the ducklings – 11 of them – looked ok, I could not reach them due to the narrow opening between the curb and the grate.  Obviously mother duck was frantic.

I returned to my car and called the Humane Society to get some ideas about how to handle the situation.  They referred me to County Animal Care and Control.  I called ACC, but they said they don’t handle anything near the location, even outside city limits. So I should call the RP Shelter.  They said I had to call Public Safety.  I dialed that number and was connected to the police dispatcher.  She told me that they don’t do anything connected with ducks.  But she did give me the number for the Bird Rescue Center. 

I called Bird Rescue and discussed the situation.  She took the information and said they would try to go out and find the ducklings, but there was likely nothing they could do, and they would probably die.

Even more disappointed, I just kept my fingers crossed that they could somehow rescue these stranded babies.  I continued on my way, but worried about them the rest of the day. 

I told my partner Brian about this as I couldn’t get the baby ducks out of my mind.  Unfortunately, I had to get to work. But the more Brian thought about the situation he became very moved to help the ducklings, and went out to find them. Sure enough, twenty-four hours later they were still there, among the garbage, peeping loudly (but mother duck was no longer in sight).  Brian went to the Humane Society to get more referrals for help. The volunteer at the Humane Society gave Brian several numbers in an effort to be helpful as well, but they were the same numbers that I had tried the day before.  It was clear that nobody was going to help rescue the baby ducks. 

Brian went shopping for tools at nearby sporting goods store.  Returning to the site, and finding the ducklings still apparently very much alive, he put together a contraption consisting of a flexible child’s pool toy and a butterfly net.  Getting down on his stomach (with traffic flying by just inches away), he miraculously scooped up all eleven ducklings with the net, two at a time, put them in a box, and drove them to the Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa, where they were left in the capable care of the bird experts.

I think people should know about these events, and Brian’s heroism for these eleven little lives. Kudos to Brian, and hurray for these little babies who have been given another chance.

Mark Penn, REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker Northern California
707.824.4293 - Direct Line
888.SONOMA.2 (888.766.6622) - Toll Free
www.MyHomeInSonoma.com

<< Back To Advice Page