Posted on 08/20/2005 10:30:03 AM PDT by greydog
In the state of Washington, you can eat as much roasted duck as you please.
You can shoot the occasional duck, provided you follow certain rules.
But you can’t possess a wild duck — a fact that Diane Erdmann didn’t fully grasp until two state Fish and Wildlife officers showed up at her Auburn workplace Friday demanding her pet duck Gooey.
What ensued that afternoon was a bizarre altercation, the seizure of Gooey the duck and two separate criminal investigations. Fish and Wildlife is looking into Erdmann for unlawful possession of wildlife, and the Auburn Police Department is investigating the officers, one of whom allegedly struck Erdmann as he snatched the duck away from her.
Erdmann supplied police with security-camera video, which she said proves her case.
But state Fish and Wildlife officials insist the officers were only doing their job. Nonetheless, they’re looking into Erdmann’s claims to determine whether the officers may have been overzealous.
One thing is clear: just about everyone at Northwest Territorial Mint, where Erdmann is a manager, had grown attached to Gooey.
“It’s a very spoiled little duck,” said company owner Ross B. Hansen.
Erdmann had gotten Gooey from a friend 11 weeks ago, after the duckling had been injured by a crow, she said. An animal lover since childhood, she feared he would die. She bought a book on raising ducks, explaining that she ignored the last two chapters, which were about “butchering and recipes.”
Erdmann kept Gooey under heat lamps, feeding him chicken food and vitamin supplements until he was back in shape. She found a Web site that sold custom-made duck diapers and had a pair fitted for Gooey. And she brought him to work every day.
“People went out of their way to see Gooey,” she said. “They would ask how he was doing, saying, ‘my, hasn’t he grown.’
Erdmann watched as Gooey had his first solo flight on July 26. She even had a commemorative coin made at Northwest Territorial for the occasion.
Life for Gooey was good.
That all changed when the officers showed up in the lobby asking for Erdmann.
Kristin Donovan, assistant to the president, heard the commotion.
“I heard a very loud, very booming, very aggressive-type voice,” she recalled. “He said, ‘give me the duck.’ I heard a pause, then, ‘If you don’t give me the duck, I’m going to arrest you.’
Arrest? Donovan scrambled to call Hansen, who was out of the office but said he’d race back to help.
Meanwhile, Hansen gave very clear orders: No search warrant, no duck.
The officers didn’t see it that way.
“It’s a situation that we run across every year,” explained Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner. “People find sick or injured wildlife they believe to be orphaned and they take it into captivity and make pets out of them.
“The agency does not support that concept. We believe wildlife is wildlife and pets are pets and there’s a strong distinction between the two.
Under certain circumstances, people can possess wildlife, but they need a permit and must meet other requirements.
When Erdmann declined to hand Gooey over, she said the officers became more stern. One of them showed her his handcuffs. As she cradled Gooey in her arms, the other one lunged at her and grabbed the duck, striking Erdmann on the chest, she said.
Erdmann filed a complaint with Auburn police, who said they would forward their report to the city prosecutor to decide whether charges should be filed.
Meanwhile, Erdmann and her colleagues are still stunned by how ridiculous it all seems.
“There are a million ducks in Washington,” Hansen said. “It’s not like this is an endangered duck.” And Gooey? A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife said he is alive and well and living in a rehabilitation center, the location of which will not be disclosed. After all, Hebner said, the center might not want the attention.
These wildlife Keystone Kops are an embarrassment.
That was a young boy who had to watch them confiscate the bird he'd saved.
Did the duck-Taliban get a few sessions of sensitivity training? Did they get fired?
How about if when the duck is "released" it decides to hang around? They gonna machine-gun it away?
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to be prosecuted for it. The feds cover for their own.
What do you think happened at Waco?
Under the release agreement, Erdmann ``must release the duck within several months, once it is ready for flight,'' Koenings said. Also, Erdmann must allow a Fish and Wildlife biologist to check on Gooey's welfare, ``as needed,'' Koenings said.
Whether Gooey would actually fly away from Erdmann, or whether state biologists actually have the time to make house calls on ducks wasn't clear Friday night.
Clearly they haven't thought that far ahead.
The attendant replies "NO this is a hard ware store we don't have any grapes"
The duck shrugs his shoulders and walks out.
The following day the duck walks back into the same hardware store "you got any grapes?"
The attendant looks at the duck and shouts "I told you yesterday that we dont have any grapes, now get out of my store!"
The next day the duck walks back into the hardware store and quacks "you got any grapes?"
The attendant looks at the duck in disbelief and screams "Look I have told you three times now that we dont have any grapes and if you come in here again asking for grapes then I am going to nail your flat webbed feet to the floor, you got it ?. Now get out of my store!!!"
Next day the duck walks back into the store "You got any nails?"
The attendant, surprised, says "No, we're all out of nails."
"Good", says the duck. "You got any grapes?"
I'm glad to see that Wash State is ignoring all of those "trivial" problems such as murder, rape, drug use, voter fraud, pollution and Mount St Helen's so that they can focus on this much more "important" crisis.
"WHERE IS PETA WHEN YOU NEED THEM????"
PETA would kill the duck. They would rather see an animal dead than have it be someone's pet.
I still am amazed the media gives the clinton administration a free pass on that.
The wildlife officers are like that in many states.
Viaduct....vy not a chicken?
I'm not. If Bush did a fraction of the atrocities against Americans as Clinton did, the Leftists would be crying for his head on a pike. ...but since ol' Billy Jeff had "the best of intentions," it's all A-OK in the eyes of the mainstream (sic) media and other anti-American bigots.
What really steamed me was when Clinton blamed the OKC bombing on Conservative radio hosts. Un-frickin'-real. Imagine if Bush had blamed 9/11 on anti-American liberals. The Leftists would have gone nuclear.
"How's this:"
Looks like Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter is going to be in trouble with Warner Bros..
ROTFLOL! That's perfect! (Or should I say, Thaaaat's despicable! *spit flying everywhere*)
Title 18 Section 242 does not exempt Federal officials. And the Fourth Ammendment cannot be repealed by a treaty. The point here is that the law necessary to remedy this situation already exists. What is lacking is the requisite political pressure to get the law enforced. Hmmmm...I wonder how that could be changed...
That is how I understand it also, but you know how they treat the law at the federal level, forgetting they are at the bottom and not the top of the trickle down hill.
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