Gigi Graciette's BloGG

Nature....it's a beautiful thing but at times, it's not very pretty.

Like tonight.

It started out as a great assignment. For a change, it was good news that I would be delivering. Nothing earth-shattering but the kind of story that would make you go 'ahhhh'.

Freelance photographer Glenn Zachman had been driving down West Street in Garden Grove when a duck jumped in front of his truck and began quacking away at him.

As she quacked, she also nervously paced back and forth between his truck and a manhole cover, leading Glenn to think something was wrong.

There was something wrong. 14 ducklings were stuck and Mama Duck needed help.

A serious of phone calls later and OC Animal Control had managed to rescue all the little duckies. Officers then followed Mama on foot as she led them two blocks away to the West Street Basin, where the feathered family was reunited.

All of this captured on video by Glenn, of course.

Cool, no? A fun little story with a happy ending for a change.

Not.

When FOX 11 photographer Steve Boyajian and I arrived at the basin to shoot some more footage, we immediately spotted mama and her brood floating by.

That’s when the gang of Canadian Geese – two of them – made their move.

Right before our eyes, they swooped in and attacked…managing to grab one duckling and drown him in seconds.

Mama Duck was desperate, as were we, but there was nothing we could do. Only feet away from them but with a chain link fence separating us, we watched as the baby duck drowned…all awhile being pecked at by the geese.

Then it happened again…the geese went in for the kill and while Mama and Papa (he was there too) did their best to shoo them away while protecting the others, they were outsized by the large geese.

Another baby duckling was drowning as Steve and I screamed at the geese,  to no avail.

Mama Duck, followed by Papa, then led their remaining flock of five….five, remember there were originally fourteen – to the bank of the basin and began pacing in front of us.

She walked the entire length of the fence, the ducklings waddling behind her, in what seemed to us as a desperate attempt to get them out of there.

All awhile, the predator geese sat nearby, planning their next move.

Meanwhile, I was calling Animal Control to come help them. Then I called my producer, almost in tears, to tell him what was happening.

“The ducklings are dead”,  I cried. “They’re being eaten right in front of us. This story does not have a happy ending.”

The story was dead, the station decided. As dead as the ducklings were.

As I continued to try and get someone to help the ducks, I got a text message from a friend who was at a business dinner and had no idea what story I was working on.

His message read “Our 1st course is duck. I’m not sure how I feel about eating Donald & Daffy”.

I kid you not. Steve and Glenn are my witnesses.

Talk about timing.

To sum up the next two hours, after finally reaching the director of Animal Services, a very kind officer came out but there was really nothing that could be done.

Plus, the “Migratory Bird Treaty Act” prohibits anyone from removing wildlife unless they are injured or in imminent danger from a human. (to sum it up).

“It’s nature”, everyone kept telling me, “It’s nature taking its course.”

Fine, but like so many other things I see and report on, I still don’t understand it.

And I never will.