Unlucky Ducks

Lucky Duck:

A hunter's wife got a huge surprise in Tallahassee, Fla., when the duck "killed" by her husband two days earlier raised its head and looked at her.

The duck had been in the woman's refrigerator for two days, Noni Beck of the Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary told the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat.

"It's just kind of freaky," Beck said.

Laina Whipple of the receptionist at the Killearn Animal Hospital said the hunter's daughter brought the 1-pound, dark-brown female duck in Tuesday.

The man's wife "was going to check on the refrigerator because it hadn't been working right," Whipple said, "and when she opened the door, it looked up at her.

"She freaked out and told the daughter to take it to the hospital right then and there."

The duck -- shot in the wing and leg -- has a 75 percent chance of surviving, a doctor at the sanctuary said.

As nice as the story is, I don't like the idea that it may have put a smile on the faces of some hippy environmentalists, so here's a better story:

Almost 200 dead ducks have been found in a chlorine basin at a wastewater treatment facility.
An engineer first noticed several distressed ducks on site January 2nd, and then a week later, the staff discovered a pattern; hundreds of ducks dead in the water.

The Division of Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife are investigating, as lab tests are being performed in Fort Collins to find a cause to the problem.

For the past 20 years, hundreds of ducks flock to the warm water at this plant, but this is the first time the staff has noticed such an ominous scene.

“It's not unusual at all to have ducks here. The ducks come every winter, but we just don't see ducks die,” said Steve Frank, spokesperson for Metro Wastewater Reclamation District.

Maintenance workers at the plant have a sound gun firing off blank shots each half hour to keep the ducks away from the water, until the root of the problem is confirmed.

How long until waste water treatment plants are required to build with the protection of ducks in mind? Not too long.

So, to sum up the post, 1 duck escaped from the cold hands of death, but then more than 200 died. That means 199 or so fewer ducks to shit in my yard.