The Daring Duck Rescue on Harris Bay.

February 17, 2024.

This adventure dates back to 2011. We have many ducks on Harris Bay, several of which have adopted our dock as a nightly roost.

One sunny Saturday afternoon, we were enjoying lunch on the deck when my wife noticed a young duck in distress in some weeds. It appeared to be struggling to keep its head out of the water and she assumed it might be tangled in some fishing line. I grabbed a pair of scissors and went to the rescue. As I approached, it started moving away. When I caught up to it, I saw that a large snapping turtle had grabbed it by the leg and was trying to drown it. Not being in the Crocodile Dundee mood, barefoot and clad in a bathing suit, I decided against wresting with this prehistoric beast. The turtle would submerge the duck but she always managed to get her head above water and looked at me with imploring eyes. I knew that I needed something to keep the turtle away from my bare toes. I had once captured a porcupine in my neighbours back yard using a long-handled garden spade and a garbage can so I went back to the shed for a more suitable tool. I grabbed a long handled four-pronged pitchfork and went back to the rescue. The turtle was dragging its hapless victim into shallower water when I caught up to it again. The water wasn't deep enough to totally submerge the duck and only its head was above water, I prodded the turtle with the fork and surprisingly, it turned its head and let the bird go. Too wet to fly, the duck scrambled for shore, churning up the silty lake bottom so I could not see where the turtle was.

My wife, watching from the deck, saw the drama unfold. With a sudden splash, I was back- peddling, frantically swishing the fork in the water in front of me. Luckily, the turtle headed for parts unknown and I hot-footed it back to my dock, happy that I had saved the duck but even happier that I still had all my toes.

I know turtles have to eat too, and are species of special concern in Ontario, but I didn’t want him feeding off our dock. There were toddlers next door at the time and we had a water loving little Miniature Pinscher that would have been no match for him. For the record, the turtle was about a foot wide and about 14 inches long on the shell but looked a lot bigger in the water.

On another occasion, our neighbor had been out fishing and had left a string of fish hanging in the water off the end of his dock. I noticed the line was bobbing and went to investigate only to find a snapping turtle enjoying a fresh fish buffet.

Over the years I have stopped my car to carry many turtles across the road. One snapper was too big to try to handle but I happened to have a big Rubbermaid container in my van. I put it over the turtle and, even though he dug his claws into the road, I managed to move him to safety.

I have no rescue photos but have attached a few photos of our dock-loving ducks as well as a snapper from our lane.