Mallard Madness is the fourth story from the twentieth episode of Season 2, which aired on February 26, 1991 on CBS. It was not included in the 30-minute syndicated version of Rescue 911.
Story[]
On June 17, 1990, numerous visitors to Calgary, Alberta, Canada's Prince's Island Park noticed a mallard duck with a plastic six-pack ring entangled around its head and neck. Parkgoers, accustomed to feeding the mallards, could tell that it was having trouble eating. Over the next couple days, visitors tried to lure it with breadcrumbs in the hope of catching it and removing the six-pack ring. The news media picked up the story and the duck was named Ed.
Department of Fish and Wildlife officers made several attempts to capture Ed. Officer Jack Morrison, involved in the rescue effort, received numerous phone calls from concerned citizens who were worried that Ed would starve or strangle to death. "One fellow suggested we should take some grain and soak it with whiskey and get the duck intoxicated," he recalls. "Another said that we should dive beneath the water. I believe somebody tried to scuba dive and grab the duck from underneath."
As word of Ed's predicament spread, Colleen Ferguson, a local television news reporter, was sent to cover the story. "We were almost held hostage by that duck," she said. "This story really excited people. Everybody wanted that duck caught."
When all attempts to rescue Ed failed, the Department of Fish and Wildlife called in an expert. Jeff Marley was the manufacturer of a "net launcher", a gun device that shoots a weighted net. It was used to capture animals when tranquilizer darts could not be used. Marley did not want to net Ed on the water because there was a risk he might drown, so his first plan was to capture him on land. But he got smarter as the week wore on and avoiding being lured onto the banks.
Finally, Marley took a shot at Ed while he was on the bank, but he escaped just as Marley got his hands on him. Another day, Marley decided to take his chances and shoot him while he was in the water. "We caught a duck," Officer Morrison recalls, "but not the right one."
Capturing Ed proved harder than anyone had imagined. He eluded his captors for several days by staying out of sight. Meanwhile, as his fame grew, and more crowds gathered in the park. Ferguson continued to follow her story, and would call Marley whenever she spotted Ed. "I knew I'd catch him," said Marley. "It was just getting the right shot."
On July 4th, Marley and his assistant set up an ambush, pushing Ed upriver with light harassment. He fell for it and ended up right in front of Marley. Marley took aim, but he missed his shot. A little later, he spotted Ed in the water near a pedestrian bridge that spans the river. It was filled with onlookers and Ed was wary of getting near anyone. It looked as if he wanted to swim under it, so Marley decided to surprise him with a shot from above. He went out on the bridge and waited until Ed passed underneath and emerged on the other side. Then he fired. This time, he netted him.
Concerned about Ed being dragged underwater by the net, Marley didn't waste time running down to the bank. He jumped off the bridge, thinking the water level was still five feet and intending to land on his rear end. Unfortunately, the water only came up to his knees and he landed on his left leg. He carried Ed out of the water and Ferguson cut the six-pack ring off his neck. He then flew to freedom as the crowd cheered.
There was only one casualty that day. Marley broke his leg jumping off the bridge and was in a cast for a month. Two weeks after he rescued Ed, he received the City of Calgary's first Enviromental Awareness Award. He hopes that in the future, six-pack rings will be made biodegradable so something like this won't happen again.
"A lot of people wondered, 'Why the big effort for one duck?'" said Ferguson. "Ed was special because it was man that put him in that position, and he couldn't get himself out of his predicament. We pollute too much, and this is the kind of thing that can happen."
In other media[]
"Mallard Madness" is one of the 81 stories featured in the book Rescue 911: Extraordinary Stories by Linda Maron.
References[]
- ↑ Kraus, Deanna. 1990-10-07. "Ed the duck gets quack at stardom". Calgary Herald. P. A1.
| Rescue 911 episodes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||