Part 1: The Situation

We frequent a pond where ducks, geese, and swans congregate. Although many of the birds' eggs hatched over mother's day weekend, we noticed that ducklings were mysteriously disappearing and that dead gosling bodies were scattered over the grassy banks. On Wednesday morning (5/16) around 10 AM, I stopped to visit, but didn't see any hatchlings. However, when the ducks and geese would call, I could hear a "peeping" sound coming from a sewer drain *in* the pond. My heart sank because I realized that a baby bird was trapped down there, unable to escape, and water was streaming down the hole. It sounded like the bird was screaming for its life.

I located a police officer who said he'd call Animal Control. My friend, Michael, placed a follow-up call later on and was informed that neither the officer nor Animal Control could hear anything. They had assumed the mother had retrieved them(!), so they didn't bother to investigate. Michael and I thought that maybe too much time had elapsed because of their stalling; the bird probably drowned. Although I'm not too religious, I lit a candle at church--I also do this for feedlot, auction, or rescue horses in dire need--but *something* told me the bird was not yet dead. So I went to the statue of St. Francis and told him I did my part, now it was HIS time to intervene if it wasn't too late. I also asked my mom to pray, and she mentioned when something is lost, a prayer to St. Anthony usually helps to locate it.

After lunch, I went out looking for a plastic duck call, with no luck. I returned to the pond with a container of corn. When I shook it, the ducks and geese started calling, and the "peeping" started again! I met with the Animal Control officer, and this time he heard it. Unfortunately, he said he couldn't do anything because it was the building's pond and the grate was probably welded shut. I met with the building manager who told me the sewer drain was "too dangerous" and not worth risking human safety to save a bird. She said it was an unfortunate situation, but part of the natural cycle (what???), and told me that sometimes these things happen. Then she tried to get sympathy from ME by telling me that the male swan was killing goslings at the pond. (What she did not reveal--but I *knew*--was that the swans are RENTED by the building *specifically* to discourage ducks and geese from nesting and calling it home.) She told me her maintenance man would look into it, but I knew nothing would come of that.