Make Way for Ducklings

Photo by Laura

On a Saturday in June, Laura was near the intersections of McDowell and Choctaw in Asheville when she found several wild ducklings that had fallen down through a sewer grate along the curb of McDowell.  They were deep in the hole and couldn’t possibly get out on their own. The mother duck was nearby, quacking, and aggressively hissing at anyone who came near.  The grate was too heavy for Laura to lift, and besides she was busy with something else important, so she “couldn’t leave her post” she said.  She called 911 for help.

Police and firemen promptly responded and managed traffic on the busy four lane road while they rescued the ducklings, six of them. The mother duck went a short distance away.  One of the ducklings was so deep in the hole, they couldn’t reach it.  Sadly, the firemen had to leave it behind.  When the fire truck left, the mother duck returned, gathered her family and led them across the road toward the creek westward as cars and trucks stopped to let them safely pass. 

This incident is so much like the illustrated children’s book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.  This is a book, first published in 1941, that I remember from my childhood and we read it to our children and now read it to our grandchildren.  It is a recipient of the Caldecott Award.  The story has a mother duck and ducklings parading all over town and people stopping to watch.  It even has a policeman named Michael holding up traffic so the ducks can cross the road. 

The rescue of the ducklings in Asheville is a cute and charming story.  It is impressive that police officers and firemen would value the lives of ducks enough to ride to the scene in their expensive equipment and use their training and authority to save them.  But this story is not really charming and heartwarming.  It is dark and depressing by contrast, because at the corner of McDowell and Choctaw, a block away from the duck rescue, is a place called Planned Parenthood, where small, dependent human children are killed by a “doctor” hired by the children’s mothers and fathers.   And if we called 911 for police and firemen to rescue them, they might come, but refuse to intervene, and we’d be arrested.  If they did intervene, they’d lose their jobs or worse.

As for Laura, she was present at Planned Parenthood to try to persuade parents not to kill their children.  For the most part, the parents ignore her and the other anti-abortion people at the site.  So, the anti-abortion/pro-life people are not usually successful at saving children, but their heart is revealed when they show their love and care for ducklings.

They do what they can.