Thursday, May 19, 2005

Traumatized.

The boys and I saw a dog maul a duck at the park this morning--not exactly "Sesame Street" material. The dog's owner (who was a real asshole) didn't seem too concerned; he just called his dog back over to him, muttered "It'll be fine" to the boys and me and walked away. I slowly approached the duck, who was alive but not moving, and saw that its legs were pretty much useless (I don't know if they were broken or what, but the duck was struggling, unsuccessfully, to stand up). Now, if you know me AT ALL, you know that even the mere HINT of animal suffering usually drives me to tears. However, since the boys were already a bit upset themselves, I had to stay relatively calm for them (as opposed to breaking into huge, gulping sobs while running after that guy and kicking him in the balls for not having his dog under control/on a leash--AND for just walking away without a care in the world).

Anyway, I brokenheartedly (no exaggeration; I absolutely hated to leave this duck all alone and hurt) headed for home, where I emailed a few different departments at the park. Shortly afterwards, I received an email from the park director, who assured me that a staff member would try to find the duck and bring him to the on-site petting zoo for treatment (the zoo wasn't yet open while we were there, or you KNOW that I would have fashioned a leg splint out of a stick and some weeds and brought the damn duck over there myself. As it was, I seriously considered loading the duck into my car and driving around until I found a vet, but then I didn't know if they'd expect me to pay for it; plus, I wasn't sure that the S's would be thrilled about their kids sharing the backseat with injured wildlife).

I may be a sarcastic, bitter and cynical smartass, but I'll be damned if I don't have a soft spot for animals (Anna, were you around when I kept a baby mouse found in the DMX office building as my "pet"?).

10 comments:

Jen said...

I wish you had been with me today then, cuz this guy was fat and you could DEFINITELY have chased him down. I would have, it I didn't have the boys with me.

I'm still pretty upset over the whole thing. (The boys seem to have moved on.)

Jamie Dawn said...

Poor duck. I hate for animals to suffer too. You did the right thing calling for help.

Jen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jen said...

Well sorry to bum you out, Anna. =-)

Fred said...

Being a parent is so danged difficult. There have been many times where I've had to mute my reaction to model for the kids what the correct behavior would be.

I wonder if a cell phone picture of the person and the beast sent to the park director would have been worth anything?

keesh said...

OMG JEn, that is so strange! I was driving to Holland, yes Holland, and on a side road I take there was a duck who had been hit by a car, it was dead FOR SURE. anyway, a female duck (I am learning how to tell the difference from my obsessed duck/goose hunter husband) was walking back and forth across the street, so i called my husband and asked him what she was doing. he said she was looking for her mate, the dead male duck. How sad is that!! He said once she found him, she would wonder around him for a day or two and then leave him. HOW SAD. I don't blame you for being sad, hunting is one thing, but letting some stupid mutt hound a duck like that and not caring is another! Bastard.

keesh said...

And thanks for saying that Fred, as if it isn't hard enough to be a parent, especially in todays world, then you got jack asses like that who just don't care what our kids see. He should have shown an example and said "bad dog, naughty! and I am sorry you kids had to see my mean dog do that, I will take care of this duck."
Jerk....

Nik said...

I wonder what that jackoff would have said/felt had it been him being attacked by his dog! You know damn well that would have been a whole other story. I hate people who have no regard for other people or creatures.

This story made me think of this: Has anybody seen the picture circulating the net of the guy who is literally holding up traffic so a duck and some ducklings (or whatever they're called) can cross the road? I don't know if it's a real picture, but it's a nice thought at least.

Jen said...

Yeah, I've seen that picture...the guy was hot, too.

Jen said...

I THOUGHT you looked familiar, Locutus. ;)