Make Way for Ducklings
Apr. 17th, 2010 06:41 pmAnyone who's been or raised a child in the US has probably encountered the charming book, Make Way for Ducklings. So it was with some delight that I read about the updated real-life California Freeway version.
As the San Jose Mercury News put it, "an intrepid California Highway Patrol officer came to the rescue of ducks attempting to waddle across freeways in the South Bay, in defiance of the laws of nature and the California Vehicle Code."
Nine little fuzzy yellow ducklings followed their mother onto Interstate 880 among cars and 18-wheelers, near Milpitas. CHP Officer Ryan Nelson stopped and herded them onto the median. Then Officer Lawrence Colon ran a traffic break while they herded the little flock over to the other side, along a wall, and safely over the off-ramp. And the occasionally road-raging Californian drivers "rolled their windows down and began to applaud."
A couple of hours later, it happened again. They saved that little bunch of quackers, too.