Monday 28 June 2010

How I helped to save 9 lives...

Sunday morning, 8.30am. Boyfriend comes into the bedroom to wake me up. I'm not impressed, it's really quite early and I'd be more than happy to stay in bed for another couple of hours. But he tells me he needs my help, we have a duck incident going on outside. A duck incident. Those last words make me jump out of bed, slip on a dress and run outside. I know what he means. The same thing happened last year. But last year, things ended rather badly.

The scene of the crime.


Well no crime as such, but you know what I mean. Not one, not two, not three, but nine tiny little ducklings had fallen through this drain cover. Last year, it had just been one, but I can't tell you how disturbing it is to see a mummy duck going round and round in circles quacking, with her poor little babies squeaking back. One or nine, it's just heartbreaking. You feel so utterly useless and blame the fact that you're big boned and can't slip your hand down the drain cover.

Anyway. So last year, we tried to save that little duckling. We called the RSPCA and they send the local officer around. But by the time they arrived, the duckling had disappeared and gone down a pipe presumably. We still can't sleep over that. This year, we were determined to be more proactive. There were 9 of them in there after all!!! I called the RSPCA, explained the situation and waited for the local officer to call back. Only we couldn't wait. They were all quaking so loud, it just tore my heart. All we needed was something to lift that drain cover. And who would have something like a crowbar at that time on a Sunday morning? The local fire station perhaps... So yes, I called them up. The first words I uttered were "this is not an emergency!!!" - I explained the situation, feeling a little silly, these people save (human) lives after all and surely had bigger fish to fry. Well, not at 9am on a Sunday morning apparently. A massive fire engine turned up 5min later. All five firemen got out, got their tools out and proceeded to removing the drain cover in about, hmmm, it must have been a whole 5 seconds! We then proceeded to scooping out these teeny tiny little balls of fur - they couldn't have been more than a couple of days old - and helping them find their mummy who was standing a couple of meters behind, looking on.

Want to see the happy family reunited?


There you go. My good deed for the day. And the amazing feeling of having made one mummy duck immensely happy for about 2min (how much of a brain/ memory do ducks have after all?!) And I won't go on about how another duck then tried rather hard to drown one of the little ducklings once it was back in the water. But what can you do, you have to let nature take its course. But let them die down a drain, no way Jose!! This gave me butterflies in my stomach for a few hours I can tell you that :-)

19 comments:

Unknown said...

A true hero :0) Well done you (and the boyfriend). Hope the little duckies are doing OK now.

You'd do anything to see a brigade of Fire Fighters!!!! Hee Hee

Gina said...

What a delightful story... and with a happy ending!

jane said...

You are my hero! This is the best story I've heard in AGES, hands down. So happy right now. I love that the fire engine came, i can just see it - I bet the firemen had butterflies in their big fireman stomachs, too. Good job to all concerned and a special mention to your boyfriend for kickstarting the whole thing by declaring there to be a duck incident. Ahh, so happy!

Taz said...

Oh welcome done you. There wouldn't be drains for them to fall down if it wasn't for us pesky humans who build them ;) Good save and bonus getting to see Firemen on a sunday morning lol

Melanie said...

You are my hero!

Well done for being so quick and pro-active.
It's good to see this little family together!

lisa ridgeon said...

Good save! Maybe you need to invest in a crowbar to keep in your shed for future saves. Or maybe keep a fireman with a crowbar in your shed. Hmmmm, i might just get myself a fireman!!

X X

The Girl said...

DUCK RESCUE 2010!!!! Briliant!! I might have to go back to the old blog and link this story to my duck rescue 2009 story. Nothing better than a duck rescue.

Also. Nothing better than fireman at 9am on a Sunday.

Debbie said...

My heart truly leaped when you said do you want to see the family reunited! That was so great! Thank goodness your boyfriend noticed and the two of you were able to change the ending this time.

Anonymous said...

I think a fire engine might beat mine and The Girl's Duck Rescue stories! Glad they're ok :)

Liz said...

Checking out the BBC website I think that firefighters spend quite a lot of their time rescuing ducklings from down drains - probably makes a nice change from cats up trees :-)

Rachel in Odd Sock House said...

What a fab story - you made me smile :0) xxx

Laura said...

Well done you! I'm so glad that this ended happily - fireman that early on a Sunday as well, woo hoo!!!

xxx

Ali said...

Awwww. Duck rescue award of the day goes to you!

mooncalf said...

What a great story. I've got a big silly smile on my face now!

Anonymous said...

Lovely! Well done!! This is such a cute story, I'm so glad it had a happy ending.

Unknown said...

oh that is such a lovely story ! and it's nice to learn that firemen still have the time to come and rescue ducklings :)

julie said...

well done you - it really makes you feel good when you know you've made such a difference - lucky little ducklings that you were around - too many people are too busy or cynical to take such kind and gentle actions.

amanda said...

Oh how I love this! You are such a hero!

Felix said...

This story totally made my day! I spent a while catching up on your posts and loved so much of what you've been up to.

But the heroic saving of the ducks and tales of the noble Firemen were just the best!