A Colorado police officer stopped traffic at a busy intersection to help a family of ducks cross the road safely. This isn’t the first time its officers have ended up helping ducks in town. It’s also probably not the last, given that local wildlife in the area is currently nesting and moving with their young. And who wouldn’t help a duck family get to safety?
According to the Westminster Police Department, the encounter happened at the intersection of Yates Street and Sheridan Boulevard in Colorado. An officer paused traffic at the intersection while the duck family made its way across. A second department employee, riding along, captured the moment on video.
The department’s social-media post described the moment with a touch of wry self-awareness, noting that the agency was starting to wonder whether the same ducks it had pulled out of a storm drain on an earlier call elsewhere in town had simply found a new way to make the news. There is no confirmation that the ducks at Yates and Sheridan were the same family. The department said it was nonetheless wondering whether word was getting around in the duck community.
The department used the occasion to remind drivers that the season is when the roads are rife with animals. It’s also baby wildlife season, and that drivers should be paying attention to small animals on the road. The copy thanked the other drivers who had stopped at the intersection during the crossing as well.
The Police-Duck Encounter
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The police department took to social media to share that an officer at the intersection of Yates Street and Sheridan Boulevard had stopped traffic earlier in the week so a family of ducks could make it safely across the road. That’s where the footage you see came from. It was edited to add a heartwarming song as well.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” the video caption read. The agency said another employee, who happened to be riding along with the officer that evening, is the one who captured the moment on video. It was then shared with the rest of the department before the public.
The Department’s Tongue-in-Cheek Reference
The department also mentioned an earlier duck rescue it had carried out at a storm drain elsewhere, asking whether the family at Yates and Sheridan might be the same one. There’s no real way to tell, the police department admitted. It said it was starting to wonder whether news of the department’s willingness to help ducks had been getting around in the local duck community.
The department closed the post with two things it wanted drivers to take away. The first was a reminder that drivers across the area should be paying particular attention to small wildlife near and on the road. The second was a public thank you to the other drivers who had stopped at the intersection during the crossing, and to the agency employee who recorded the video from the patrol vehicle.