This evening was a little unusual to say the least. We were on our way to school to observe a duck rescue (more about this in a minute) and our way we saw a black lab running across the street and having a great time taking himself for a walk. We stopped, invited him the car....as he kicked Brady out of the front seat and then ate all his pretzels.
Rescue Mission #1:
Rotten Rudy
He had a tag on with his name and address. We delivered him to his home and on we went to our next adventure.
Rescue Mission #2:
Mommy Duck & Baby Ducks
There is a courtyard at school and a mommy duck decided to use this courtyard to raise her duckies....NOT a good idea. The Ohio Wildlife Organization was contacted to rescue these ducks and when I told Brady that they were to be rescued this evening, he insisted on going by to observe. What an educational, very time consuming, sad, yet heartwarming observation we experienced. This entire adventure took about 2 hours....and we stayed until the very end of it!
Mama duck and a few of her babies in the courtyard:
Ashley and Carol, volunteers from The Ohio Wildlife Org to the rescue. They gathered up the ducklings and then tried to catch Mom, but she became very mad and even flew away:
Once they gathered 13 ducklings (with Mommy Ducky out flying around) they took the ducks outside of the building and held a few of the duckies up to peep to get their Mother to follow them to the pond....this process took about an hour! Very tiresome and stressful on already weak and hungry baby ducks.
Mom finally heard her little babies and came a little closer. As we walked towards the pond, she flew away again (back to the courtyard) and the entire process had to start all over again. The ladies had the feeling that there had to be another baby still left in the courtyard which was the reason she kept returning and flying back. Sure enough there was one left...a total of 14 baby ducks! But the Mama duck had to be led to her babies again.....
Throughout this process several of the baby ducks were crashing...literally dying of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration and weakness. Ashley tried to revive two by palpating their chests and keeping them warm. After another 45 minutes of being quiet and trying to stay still and few prayers.....Mom AND Dad duck came flying in to the pond! :) It was a WONDERFUL sight to watch the two of them fly right on to the pond and get some of the ducks. The ladies mentioned that through their research and experiences they have never seen the father mallard duck become involved in gathering the babies. They usually are not involved what so ever.
The last part was trying to round all the remaining ducks up to lead towards Mom and Dad in the pond. Not very easy when a few were missing and a few were already swimming by themselves.
The ladies had to once again jump in and become involved...Ashley was SO passionate about saving these ducks and leading them to their Mom! You can tell by the look on her face and she was even barefoot walking in the water...and it wasn't warm out..about 45 degrees.
After a few more attempts, only 6 ducks were observed with mom....we saw two die...the other 7 we're not sure about......hopefully throughout the night Mom and Dad duck will find them.
What an experience that I hope you will appreciate and I hope my kids will never forget. These little ducks, Mom, Dad and babies will be watched over by all of us throughout the next few weeks. Ashley and Carol said that if they hadn't come to rescue these ducks would have only survived another day or so. They didn't save them all, but at least half of them have their Mother and Father to teach them all about duck life!
God Our Heavenly Father,
You created the world
to serve humanity's needs
and to lead them to You.
By our own fault
we have lost the beautiful relationship
which we once had with all your creation.
Help us to see
that by restoring our relationship with You
we will also restore it
with all Your creation.
Give us the grace
to see all animals as gifts from You
and to treat them with respect
for they are Your creation.
We pray for all animals
who are suffering as a result of our neglect.
May the order You originally established
be once again restored to the whole world
through the intercession of the Glorious Virgin Mary,
the prayers of Saint Francis
and the merits of Your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ
Who lives and reigns with You
now and forever. Amen.
St. Francis of Assisi
Patron Saint of animals:
