Traffic came to a stop Thursday morning as the birds waddled against oncoming traffic in the breakdown lane.
Whether it was fowl play or a decoy operation, the result was the same Thursday morning when a CHP officer and a group of good Samaritans came together to save a duck and her duckling after they became trapped by traffic on a busy freeway in Mission Valley.
An NBC 7 producer was headed to work a little before 9 a.m. when she spotted a CHP patrol car ahead of her on Interstate 8 east near the Hotel Circle exit. The officer made a rolling stop of the freeway traffic but apparently couldn't locate the ducks, so he tried a second time, then got out and tried to get the pair to safety.
Her news instincts kicking in, the producer snatched up her cell phone and started recording video just in time to see, between two cars, a duckling go running by in the left-hand breakdown lane, followed soon after by the CHP officer.
Soon, other motorists — possibly as many as 10 — their progress halted, jumped out of their vehicles, joining in the police chase. The elusive birds, however, managed to deftly escape all attempts to corral them, but the group of rescuers were eventually able to herd the birds over to the other shoulder and out of harm's way.
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NBC 7 has contacted the CHP for details on the bird-loving patrolman but has not yet heard back.
It's not the first time in recent memory that an animal stopped traffic on a San Diego freeway. Last month, a terrified Chihuahua was spotted running for its life on Interstate 5.
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One driver told NBC 7 that 2-year-old Henry, who was eventually reunited with his human, ran for miles before he could be rescued.
“This whole highway is stopped, and everyone is trying to save this little dog,” Adam Fischer, who recorded Henry sprinting along the northbound Interstate 5, said in his video. “Everyone keeps stopping to try to get him, and they can’t get him.”
People got out of their cars and ran after Henry, trying to get him to safety. The chase went on for miles.
“I was terrified," Fischer said. "I kept thinking the dog was going to get run over because it would run left, and cars would come, try to speed by, slam on the brakes, and then, all of the sudden, you’d lose sight of it."
