OC Residents Scramble To Save Ducklings And Their Mother Off 5 Freeway

MISSION VIEJO, CA — Good samaritans in Orange County put their lives — and cars — at risk when they parked on the side of the State Route 5 freeway near Crown Valley Parkway to save a brood of ducklings and their mother.

The family was spotted on the right shoulder of the freeway by an unidentified good samaritan Friday morning who promptly pulled over his car to try to help, Mission Viejo resident Elida Tsou told Patch.

"It started with the gentleman in the picture who was in front of me. He was using his car to protect the mother duck and babies, and when he saw they were heading to the second freeway lane he used his car to make a path for them," Tsou said.

Fortunately for mother duck, neither her nor her young ones were injured on the freeway after being rescued by Orange County residents who stopped to help the family in need.

Tsou was driving on the freeway when she saw the parked car of the two good samaritans. She said that she was about to pull her car around and zoom off.

Before hitting the gas pedal, Tsou said she saw something that forced her out of her own car: a young man and woman trying to corral a duck family to safety.

Tsou said that about five cars pulled over on the busy freeway, with several people on the ground attempting to coordinate the rescue of the frightened ducks.

"What blew me away was that all the rescuers left their very nice cars, and at that moment none of us were thinking about material possessions or our own safety," Tsou said. "We were thinking about getting those babies back to safety."

Tsou said that it was likely the ducks and their mother had squeezed their way through the freeway's concrete divider. At first, the rescuers attempted to hand-move each duckling through an opening in the concrete divider, but the effort failed when the ducklings became frightened and ran back onto the freeway's shoulder to their mother.

At that point, Tsou said the traffic on the freeway stretched back as far as her eye could see while she and four others worked vigilantly to get the ducks on the other side of the divider.

"Serendipitously, since congestion started in the slow lane people started seeing what we were trying to do," Tsou said. "Most cars stopped to keep that barrier going for the ducks."

Tsou suggested to the group of rescuers that they try another method. One rescuer climbed over the barrier and moved the mother duck over the divider.

"Their mom was on the other side waiting on the grass for her ducklings, as if she knew we were trying to help her — not hurt her," Tsou said.

One by one, each duckling was returned to mom. Tsou said the second rescue attempt proved to be successful, and the rescuers dispersed back to their cars quickly. Tsou said it all happened so fast, she did not get the names of any rescuer out on the freeway that Friday.

"I had a friend in the car who stayed put, she was praying hard that no one would get hurt and said we were crazy to do that," Tsou said. "Upon reflection, my passenger was right. It was a dangerous thing to do, and possibly very costly to possessions and people... but I think unnecessary self preservation and fear is not what started our country, and it's not what makes us great."

In the end, Tsou has no regrets and told Patch she felt she was in the right place at the right time.

"This was how I was raised," Tsou said. "I'm a Christian, and this is the whole message of Easter."