The Great Duckling Wrangle

The guy in the photo is genuinely Perth’s Local Hero this Morning!

Today I parked in the middle of the freeway, hopped out my car…. took off my scarf and jacket…. Then I went for a run.?

Some were mildly irritated, others honking…?

But I felt it was worth it.

Turns out not every traffic incident on the freeway is caused by someone who can’t merge…?

Sometimes it’s an amazing man,?

like the Hero pictured in this article.

It's not me.

I don’t know his name and didn’t even get a chance to shake his hand.

So I’m sharing my encounter with him here…

I hope he inspires others…

He deserved a better photo than this..

I believe doing the right thing, isn’t about taking selfies,?

It’s about being a good human and doing the right thing.

So for those of you on the freeway this morning,?

who didn’t have a clear view of his greatness,?

let me share the experience you were honking at. ?

You see,

My brother Grant and I were car pooling on the way to UseVerb.com offices when we hit a snag in the traffic.

Yep it was raining,?

and we all know Perth drivers are not good at merging.

Today it appeared someone had just had a small fender bender in front of us.

Seemed Lucky for us they had just popped in their cars and started driving again…

great.. that was painless we thought.

We’ll be in to work on time.

Funny thing was the guy in the lead car, jumped in his car and sped off, then braked hard, again stopped jumped out of his car and then did this twice.

We we’re perplexed…

The cars in front of us we’re clearly watching this erratic behaviour and had put their hazards on, slowly swerving around him before speeding off…

Yes! There was hope, this would not take long, we were only a couple of cars away from a free run to the city too.

Not long now..

Closer..

Then finally we got our chance to drive past.

?

Now being the born and bred Perth driver I am,

I chose to slow right down,?

Got ready and stretched my rubber neck?

What was going on?!?

Today I would find out.. it was fantastic!?

You see for me personally, I love nothing more than investing heavily in the speed reduction and bottlenecking process of clear flowing traffic. Ensuring a solid twisting of my neck to poke my sticky beak deep into really understanding what happened.

I mean it’s the freeway, traffic should be flowing at 100kmph, but it was now crawling at 20.?

Typically this happens and you never know what occurred.

Not Today!!! Today Glory!?

I can find out, so…?

I chose to do the right thing?

and I slowed right down.?Slowly I drove. Very slowly… carefully looking with my rubber neck….?

Side note:

I don’t know why people in Perth Can’t Merge!?

Gosh it get’s me super frustrated!

Anyway back to the story,

We discovered something,?

This Local Hero was the only driver, in all these cars, who had actually stopped.?

He was using his hazards?

and had jumped out to Save a Family of Ducklings.?

Big Heart.

It was awesome to see!

My brother and I were both like, this guy is Awesome!?

Check him out.

Feeling proud, for him.

Inspired by his actions.

As we got closer…

We realised, it wasn’t that easy for him..

We now could understand why he had been stopping, starting and driving erratic.

He was franticly trying to save these little baby ducks,?

from the busy morning commuters tyres,?

destined to squish them.?

With concrete barricades on each side they couldn’t escape.?

Mother duck was missing?

and the babies were running frantic.

It was around now we had made our way door level with his car and had our chance to finally drive straight to the city.

Finally a straight run to work.

So on went our Hazards,

We blocked the next lane over of traffic on the freeway,

and out we jumped.?

He had just recruited 2 more to help on The Great Duckling Wrangle.

Before we new it, the next lane was blocked and some amazing women jumped out to join us too..

Then another car and another….

The Great Duckling Wrangle had begun!

Wow wee…?

Do you know how fast Duckling are!!!

Man those little guys can run fast.

I mean real fast.

Couldn’t grab them with my hands, so I tried my scarf…

Threw that to catch one…

Nope that didn’t work,?

I was worried they would get squished,?

So I tried my jacket… ahh this was looking promising..

But not working.

So I though I’d use it as a net and snare them with it…

So threw my jacket and?

Bam!?

Got nothing…?

the Ducklings took off!

Geeze

Then

1 little duck ran off from the others towards the driving cars,?

Worried he meet his doom,

And my poor jacket throw had separated him

I chased him to save him.

In my haste,?

My scarf was thrown,?

My jacket was lying where it had been thrown,

and I find myself in a t-shirt running down the freeway next to a duckling

A duckling that’s running as fast as I am…?

Hahaha

Gosh darn it.

With a sprint,

I finally I got ahead and cornered the duckling,

Then,

Another amazing lady who had jumped out caught up to help us,?

Turns out she was somewhat of an amazing Duckling Whisperer!

She let me know shhh shhh wouldn’t work but more just talk calmly ..

I tried this?

Then like Quick Draw McGraw,

I dove as fast as I could grabbing it firmly with both hands.

I did it.

Saved the little guy!

I was feeling pretty chuffed, I had saved one!

Looking up to now return and help the others,

I realised Grant my brother is a Professional Firefighter…

Hahaha

He is way way better at this than me.?

He’d saved the rest of the flock already with the Local Hero, pictured above, who was now carrying them all in a shopping bag safely over the barricade and releasing them in the river..

It was an inspiring, awesome adventure of a morning.?

Finishing with a great outcome!?

Hope the cctv footage has it from the freeway.?

And if you are the guy in the photo and you find yourself reading this,?

Mate you are Amazing!?

Congratulations,?

We’re simply proud we could help you this morning.?

Thank you!

Hope today’s a winner for you!

Thanks for reading,

Paul

ps: Sometimes you just have to be late to morning meetings.