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- #11
BelovedBirds
Crossing the Road
Boy do I have a story to tell! Stick with me, its a long one!
Well today wasn't what I expected. Down to check and feed the ducks and I see out of control dogs jumping in the water near them, adult men laughing and trying to grab the babies, all sorts.
I couldn't take that, so after giving a few looks that could kill, I pushed the rescue team to do something. They were reluctant to, but bf and I offered our help and they later that day sent a couple people out.
We went to their aid immediately, it was socks and shoes off, in the river, game time
Well, ultimately we weren't able to get mama and with the state of stress she was in, unwilling to abandon her babies, they ultimately decided not to take the babies without her. (I did argue their case, face to face with the people, that if she's going to lose them regardless, it's better to be cruel to be kind, but I could understand their dilemma with how distressed mum was).
It wasn't my call to make but I did what I could.
That said, we were able to catch the ducklings, worked with my bf to get the first, I held onto her and helped to herd mum while they got the other. She was so tiny in my hands, but I remembered how I held Dougie and Sprightly when I wanted them to be still and sleep, and it worked perfectly to calm this one, no wiggling pretty much instantly. Its very public so we were surrounded by a crowd which only made mum more flighty. We had many people asking us to stop, I took the opportunity to be loud and educate them. Held her for a while while they got the cage, put them in and carried them up stream.
Kept stopping to make sure mum followed, and she did, scared us a few times by flying extremely high and far but came back in a loop everything yelling at us (understandable).
We managed to get halfway up the river, to a wider deeper part with more land and grassy mounds. It wasn't ideal as they still can't get out of the river, due to man made sides.
However, it's got more bugs, more fish, more plants to hide in. Less dogs too.
Eventually they let the ducklings out into this section and mum returned to them immediately, she adores her babies. The team left but not before I discussed making some steps for them to get out of the river (allowing them to travel to quieter areas, more natural cover. And allowing them to move up the stream easier.)
With their thanks and encouragement, we got to work until way past sunset. Unfortunately two drakes found her and chased her so that she flew out of the river leaving her babies behind, and fleeing for her life. They were so aggressively going for her, but I ran in between them and swatted my hat at the drakes and kept on their backs until they left for good.
We managed to herd them further up stream, to a very quiet area. We built steps there, so the ducklings should be able to climb out but at least have a place to rest out of the water.
It did involve wading into the river and carrying big slabs of rock, but its worth it!
Well today wasn't what I expected. Down to check and feed the ducks and I see out of control dogs jumping in the water near them, adult men laughing and trying to grab the babies, all sorts.
I couldn't take that, so after giving a few looks that could kill, I pushed the rescue team to do something. They were reluctant to, but bf and I offered our help and they later that day sent a couple people out.
We went to their aid immediately, it was socks and shoes off, in the river, game time
Well, ultimately we weren't able to get mama and with the state of stress she was in, unwilling to abandon her babies, they ultimately decided not to take the babies without her. (I did argue their case, face to face with the people, that if she's going to lose them regardless, it's better to be cruel to be kind, but I could understand their dilemma with how distressed mum was).
It wasn't my call to make but I did what I could.
That said, we were able to catch the ducklings, worked with my bf to get the first, I held onto her and helped to herd mum while they got the other. She was so tiny in my hands, but I remembered how I held Dougie and Sprightly when I wanted them to be still and sleep, and it worked perfectly to calm this one, no wiggling pretty much instantly. Its very public so we were surrounded by a crowd which only made mum more flighty. We had many people asking us to stop, I took the opportunity to be loud and educate them. Held her for a while while they got the cage, put them in and carried them up stream.
Kept stopping to make sure mum followed, and she did, scared us a few times by flying extremely high and far but came back in a loop everything yelling at us (understandable).
We managed to get halfway up the river, to a wider deeper part with more land and grassy mounds. It wasn't ideal as they still can't get out of the river, due to man made sides.
However, it's got more bugs, more fish, more plants to hide in. Less dogs too.
Eventually they let the ducklings out into this section and mum returned to them immediately, she adores her babies. The team left but not before I discussed making some steps for them to get out of the river (allowing them to travel to quieter areas, more natural cover. And allowing them to move up the stream easier.)
With their thanks and encouragement, we got to work until way past sunset. Unfortunately two drakes found her and chased her so that she flew out of the river leaving her babies behind, and fleeing for her life. They were so aggressively going for her, but I ran in between them and swatted my hat at the drakes and kept on their backs until they left for good.
We managed to herd them further up stream, to a very quiet area. We built steps there, so the ducklings should be able to climb out but at least have a place to rest out of the water.
It did involve wading into the river and carrying big slabs of rock, but its worth it!