6 little ducklings prove no match for officer

Deepa Bharath

Officer Jeff Lu normally has his ducks in a row. But last Wednesday

was an exception.

It was a tactical challenge for the Newport Beach cop to gather

six tiny ducklings that were lost, their little webbed feet scurrying

all over Santa Barbara Drive, apparently looking for their mom.

Lu, a patrol officer who has worked with the department for more

than 14 years, said he noticed something was not quite right near the

intersection of San Clemente Drive at about 2:45 p.m. when he saw

cars stopped dangerously in the middle of the road.

Among the people stopped by the little quackers was Corona del Mar

Realtor Sharon Fagundes, who immediately feared for the birds’

safety.

“I jumped out of my car, but Officer Lu asked me to get in,” she

said.

Fagundes obeyed, but didn’t have the heart to leave without

helping. So she parked her car at a hotel nearby, grabbed a blanket

she had with her and ran back to the ducklings.

Lu, meanwhile, had his hands full.

“I got the cars moving, but kept my police unit parked up front so

no one would hit them from behind,” he said.

The mother duck was on one side of the street and her ducklings

were on the other side. Lu’s task was to get the babies to the

mother.

He herded three of them to the curb near the mom, but they were so

tiny that the curb was too tall for them to climb over. So Lu put a

box by the curb that they got into. He was able to drop those three

off to the mother. But the other three ran helter-skelter right

across the lanes.

So Fagundes came to the rescue, handing Lu the blanket.

“I gently tossed the blanket over the ducklings,” Lu said.

Fagundes then picked them up with the blanket and brought them

safely to the curb. But then the mother duck and three ducklings were

gone.

“We walked up and down the sidewalk looking for them,” she said.

Finally, they found the scared mom hiding behind a bush.

“She let out one loud quack on seeing her babies,” Fagundes said.

“And oh my! What a happy reunion it was. They cackled and shouted.

They were so happy to be back together again.”

Fagundes said it was an intense, tension-filled few minutes for

her.

“It was an ordeal,” she said. “And when it was over, I hugged the

officer. He did such a great job.”

Lu said although this kind of “rescue” was a rare occurrence for

him, it was something he felt he had to do.

“But more importantly, no people were injured and no animals were

hurt during this episode,” he said with a laugh.

It wasn’t funny at the time, Lu said.

“But thinking about it now, it was really funny how fast these

little things were,” he said. “Really hard to keep up with.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.