Justice never sleeps — but sometimes, it waddles. Case in point, a sheriff’s deputy helped save a duck with an injured foot in urban northwest Clackamas County last week.
According to a July 31 Facebook post by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, a woman and her two daughters called about an injured duck at the Boardman Wetlands Nature Park off Southeast Addie Street in the Jennings Lodge area.
The caller had also called the DoveLewis Emergency and Specialty Veterinary Animal Hospital, and they told her to bring the duck in if she could catch it, officials said.
That’s where Deputy Ashley Walker came in — for what had to be the strangest collar of her law enforcement career.
“It was a slow evening on the [Highway 99E] side, so I went to help out,” Walker explained.
The duck had visible injuries to its foot and wing, and Walker suspected fowl play (sorry). Sure enough, the injured duck by the other ducks.
After catching the wounded water bird, Walker transported it to the veterinary hospital for treatment in a pet carrier provided by the caller and her daughters.
Walker has a history of taking quick action when lives are on the line — regardless of whether they have webbed feet.
Four years ago, she was recognized with an award from the Clackamas County Sherriff’s Office for improvising a series of field tourniquets that saved the life of an intoxicated man who had seriously cut himself and was at risk of bleeding out.
Developed in partnership by the North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District and Oak Lodge Water Services, the Boardman Wetlands Nature Park is a relatively new nature park and restored wetlands area located about 10 miles southeast of Portland.
Part of the larger Boardman-Rinearson Watershed Complex, the reclaimed 5.8-acre park provides habitat for a wide variety of native plants as well as ducks, geese, beaver and many other aquatic wildlife species.
