The Day We Rescued a Duckling

Yesterday morning I was out and about for my normal Saturday errands and my husband, Z, had to work for a few hours. When I was on my way home I texted him to see when he would be home and about 10 minutes later he calls me. He said that he was on his way home and he saw a family of ducks crossing the road so he stopped to let them cross (there wasn't many people on the road so it was COMPLETELY safe for him to stop) and when he noticed the car in the other lane wasn't slowing at all he hopped out and tried to wave him down. Unfortunately they didn't - the guy was a total asshole was not a nice person and flipped off Z and kept driving, hitting the family, and NOT evening stopping after. Some people are so cruel. :(

SO anyways, the parent duck and three babies did not survive, one ran into the bushes and could not be found and the last one Z was able to grab. So Z drove the whole way home like this:

When he got home we put the little guy in  a box and tried to keep him warm and calm. I searched wild life rescue and called the Sacramento Wildlife Care Association and they gave me the number of the volunteer who rehabilitated ducks back into the wild.  After speaking with her she informed us to give him a shallow water dish and some cracker/bread crumbs and just keep him warm. That we did!

The volunteer told us that we could either take him to the center and she could pick him up this evening or we could wait and drop him off with her later in the day. I told her that I would rather wait until we could just take him directly to her. We kept checking on the little guy through out the day and keeping him partly covered to try and keep him calm. Once the time came I seat belted him in the car and we were off.

When I got to the ladies house she had a big bin with probably a dozen little guys all sleeping under the heat lamp. She said that they were from a few different families and that it is just that time of year. I put him in with the other ducklings:

He is the larger one on the top right of the picture. Within thirty seconds he was welcomed into the pack and it was one big ball of fluff sleeping again. *tear*

Even though it was such a sad and horrible thing that happened I am glad Z was able to save one of them and felt huge relief and happiness when he was in the huddle of other ducklings just like him. So this little guy will have a happy ending after all.

If you live in California here is the website with all of the wildlife rescue associations depending on what county you are in. If you live in another state I'm sure that they have their own lists as well. We are huge animal lovers and would really do anything to help the little guys in any way we can, I have NO respect for people who hurt animals and think they should be all just struck by lightening. 

<3