8 January 2012

Lone Ranger to the Swan Rescue on Parkes Way

| dazzab
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At 5.30pm today I was riding my motorcycle along Parkes Way and as I approached the large roundabout at Civic I noticed a car stopped in the fast lane at an angle. There were no other cars but the hazard lights were on and traffic was slowing to move around it. As I rode past a man was standing in front of the car which seemed quite unusual until I noticed a large black swan laying motionless on the road. It was obvious that one of the lovely swans that swim around in the roundabout pond didn’t manage to negotiate it’s way across the parkway while heading to Commonwealth Park.

swan on road</a></ins>

I decided to pull off to offer my assistance given I had protective gear on that can be quite handy if you need to move an injured animal. I took one look at the size of the bird and decided there was no way I’d be moving it. The good news was that the bird was alive and looked like it might live if it got some help. That’s when I met Mr Good Citizen, James who was already busy on the phone being shuffled from Police to Canberra Connect to the RSPCA and back to Canberra Connect so they could call a Ranger.

I’m glad I met him as he was just a passer by who saw the swan lying in the middle of the road and decided not to just drive off like many others, including whoever hit the bird in the first place. We sat on the side of the road for safety and warned traffic the best we could to avoid his car and the swan. About five minutes later the bird actual stood up and things began to look a bit better. I thought it’s wing was broken but a bit later as it began to stretch it seemed more like it was just taking a while to come back from a state of shock. Eventually it attempted to walk over to the medium strip and stumbled three or four times trying to negotiate the curb but it finally made it to the safety of the grass.

We continued to watch it while waiting for a ranger who arrived fairly quickly with a net and gloves. At this point things got ugly again as the bird decided to try and get across the road once more which involved crossing over the two lane roundabout’s exit on to Parkes Way.

ranger

James saved the bird’s life once again by standing by it and warning the traffic which gave the Ranger time to come and try to net it. It sounds a bit dangerous but everyone had more than enough room to drive around except for one cranky driver who decided he could care less and drove right up to James and the Swan to honk and scream at them. He even stopped the car in traffic, got out and abused us again. And for good measure after making a call on his mobile he abused us again as he drove by.

Driver abuses swan rescuers

So today I saw the best and worst in people. The story has a nice ending as well. On the final attempt to net the swan it took to flight skimming across the pond and coming to a safe landing on the other side. We all decided it would stress it more to be chasing it given it obviously could now fend for itself and decided to leave well enough alone. Just as the ranger was packing up a women who saw some of this pulled over to say, ‘can you help the poor mother duck and her ducklings stuck in the middle of the Glenloch Interchange?’. With that the Ranger jumped in his truck and headed off to the next adventure.

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TheDancingDjinn10:56 am 09 Jan 12

EvanJames said :

Postalgeek said :

So how come rangers are allowed to put down animals in distress but can’t put down Mazda drivers in distress?

Heh, yep, I’d love to see the ranger using that net on the crazed angry man. And just think, that angry man is driving around, probably every day, liable to get angry at anything that offends him. Just as well that only speeding is an offence on ACT roads nowadays.

I’d be cranky too, if i had to drive a Mazda.

Postalgeek said :

So how come rangers are allowed to put down animals in distress but can’t put down Mazda drivers in distress?

Heh, yep, I’d love to see the ranger using that net on the crazed angry man. And just think, that angry man is driving around, probably every day, liable to get angry at anything that offends him. Just as well that only speeding is an offence on ACT roads nowadays.

So how come rangers are allowed to put down animals in distress but can’t put down Mazda drivers in distress?

Peewee Slasher8:50 am 09 Jan 12

Well done James and dazzab. It seems that many people don’t stop to do something because it might be “embarrassing” but nevertheless, others do.

Well done James , ranger and most of the motorists.

BenMac said :

Same thing happened a few months ago.

Mother and her ducklings were moving from the pond in the centre of the roundabout to Commonweath Park. That time cars in both lanes heading west came to a complete stop and waited. No honking or road rage. It was pretty orderly.

Since then I’ve noticed they’ve put a duck crossing sign just before the roundabout intersection.

That’s great to hear.

Brianna said :

LSWCHP said :

I’d like to add my congratulations to all involved as well, that’s a great effort.

And of course, my wish for Mr Grey Mazda is a truckload of steaming Yak dung delivered to his doorstep. Well, any kind of dung at all, really.

_ Eleventy billion! 🙂

And one!

Though I feel Mr Mazda is probably as used to the bad smell coming from his karma as the Governor General is used to band music and fetes, and therefore wouldn’t notice the addition. (Someone please put that previous sentence out of its misery…)

LSWCHP said :

I’d like to add my congratulations to all involved as well, that’s a great effort.

And of course, my wish for Mr Grey Mazda is a truckload of steaming Yak dung delivered to his doorstep. Well, any kind of dung at all, really.

_ Eleventy billion! 🙂

I’d like to add my congratulations to all involved as well, that’s a great effort.

And of course, my wish for Mr Grey Mazda is a truckload of steaming Yak dung delivered to his doorstep. Well, any kind of dung at all, really.

Nice work to all involved, with the obvious exception. Kind of just goes to prove my theory that most people most of the time are really pretty decent, but that that’s easy to forget since you rarely hear about it. Rather, it’s stories of (and encounters with) d***heads like Mr Grey Mazda (who I would personally have no qualms with identifying, but that’s your (and/or JB’s) choice) which tend to stick with you and hurt your faith in humanity.

So, to all the decent people out there, and that’s most of you, keep up the good work 🙂

Awesome, good on you and the other good people in this story. and I echo the call to reveal the numberplate and face of the mongrel in the story.

This kind of direct action, and taking responsibility rather than expecting “the authorities” to “do something” is less common than it used to be. The lady grabbing the ranger to help the ducks is good too, although I fear the mother duck had already taken matters into her own hands, they usually do.

And kudos for taking pictures! When 4 of us were scrambling around on the Kings Hwy, saving a scruffy little dog, in hindsight I could have grabbed the camera but didn’t even think of it.

Same thing happened a few months ago.

Mother and her ducklings were moving from the pond in the centre of the roundabout to Commonweath Park. That time cars in both lanes heading west came to a complete stop and waited. No honking or road rage. It was pretty orderly.

Since then I’ve noticed they’ve put a duck crossing sign just before the roundabout intersection.

Why censor the face and rego of the moron? Identify and shame. He brings shame on us who drive mazdas.

Though I can offset it by saying I stopped to allow ducks to cross the road a few weeks back. I think the ambos passing in the opposite directions were amused as they stopped to watch when said ducks must have bored and just stand in the middle of the road in front of my car.

ThatUniStudent11:08 am 08 Jan 12

It is so nice to read a good news story. I’m glad the swan was okay. I hope it is more cautious ion the future. As for the Mazda driver, what a tool. That’s road rage, and using a mobile phone while driving. They could have just driven around like everyone else. You know, there’s no legal reason for to have to you blurr out their face or rego plate.

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