Gigi Graciette's BloGG

Nature....it's a beautiful thing but at times, it's not very pretty.

Like tonight.

It started out as a great assignment. For a change, it was good news that I would be delivering. Nothing earth-shattering but the kind of story that would make you go 'ahhhh'.

Freelance photographer Glenn Zachman had been driving down West Street in Garden Grove when a duck jumped in front of his truck and began quacking away at him.

As she quacked, she also nervously paced back and forth between his truck and a manhole cover, leading Glenn to think something was wrong.

There was something wrong. 14 ducklings were stuck and Mama Duck needed help.

A serious of phone calls later and OC Animal Control had managed to rescue all the little duckies. Officers then followed Mama on foot as she led them two blocks away to the West Street Basin, where the feathered family was reunited.

All of this captured on video by Glenn, of course.

Cool, no? A fun little story with a happy ending for a change.

Not.

When FOX 11 photographer Steve Boyajian and I arrived at the basin to shoot some more footage, we immediately spotted mama and her brood floating by.

That’s when the gang of Canadian Geese – two of them – made their move.

Right before our eyes, they swooped in and attacked…managing to grab one duckling and drown him in seconds.

Mama Duck was desperate, as were we, but there was nothing we could do. Only feet away from them but with a chain link fence separating us, we watched as the baby duck drowned…all awhile being pecked at by the geese.

Then it happened again…the geese went in for the kill and while Mama and Papa (he was there too) did their best to shoo them away while protecting the others, they were outsized by the large geese.

Another baby duckling was drowning as Steve and I screamed at the geese,  to no avail.

Mama Duck, followed by Papa, then led their remaining flock of five….five, remember there were originally fourteen – to the bank of the basin and began pacing in front of us.

She walked the entire length of the fence, the ducklings waddling behind her, in what seemed to us as a desperate attempt to get them out of there.

All awhile, the predator geese sat nearby, planning their next move.

Meanwhile, I was calling Animal Control to come help them. Then I called my producer, almost in tears, to tell him what was happening.

“The ducklings are dead”,  I cried. “They’re being eaten right in front of us. This story does not have a happy ending.”

The story was dead, the station decided. As dead as the ducklings were.

As I continued to try and get someone to help the ducks, I got a text message from a friend who was at a business dinner and had no idea what story I was working on.

His message read “Our 1st course is duck. I’m not sure how I feel about eating Donald & Daffy”.

I kid you not. Steve and Glenn are my witnesses.

Talk about timing.

To sum up the next two hours, after finally reaching the director of Animal Services, a very kind officer came out but there was really nothing that could be done.

Plus, the “Migratory Bird Treaty Act” prohibits anyone from removing wildlife unless they are injured or in imminent danger from a human. (to sum it up).

“It’s nature”, everyone kept telling me, “It’s nature taking its course.”

Fine, but like so many other things I see and report on, I still don’t understand it.

And I never will.

Is it just me, or is 2008 starting to seem like a very violent year in LA to you?

Sunday, yet another senseless murder -- like if there were ever any murders that made sense, right?

A 20 year old is driving down the 101-East at 8 o'clock in the morning when he is shot in the head -- most likely from another car.

Marlon Gordillo Sical then lost control of his Honda, slammed into the sound wall and that impact sent him spinning across the freeway where he crashed into the center divider.

Why? Road rage? A stray bullet?

Who cares, it's still another act of unexplainable violence that put so many others at risk.

And when I say this has been a violent year, it's not only the crime I am talking about.

This weekend there was yet another wrong way driver on the 118 -- going east in the westbound lanes. This guy slammed right into a pickup truck killing the two people inside and himself.

Less than two weeks ago, it was another guy who did the same thing...except only he died. Oh, he did kill two cats that were in a semi-truck.

What the heck is going on? Is the moon stuck in full? Is it the year of the Rat?

What's happening? And when is it going to stop?

As others rushed out, he rushed in.

Moments later, he was dead.

The Los Angeles City Fire Department lost one of it's own last night when Firefighter Brent A. Lovrien died in the line of duty.

The 35 year old was a 10 year veteran of the LAFD, assigned to the 'A' Platoon at Fire Station 95 since October 2005.

Lovrien, and his fellow firefighters, had been responding to an explosion in a shopping center near LAX when he was killed in a subsequent blast.

In that same explosion, Engineer Anthony J. Guzman suffered multiple fractures and facial trauma. He remains hospitalized in serious condition following surgery.

Details are still sketchy about exactly what happened but there is one thing we know for sure: another hero is dead.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Firefighter Lovrien's family, friends and the LAFD.

And to Firefighter Guzman, our wishes for a speedy recovery.

It felt like both a funeral and an estate sale...just not right.

Like if the body was right there in the room; still warm to the touch while all the belongings were being sold off.

People were everywhere. Carrying vases, end tables, rugs...pretty much anything they could get their arms around.

While some were sprawled on the furniture with a "this is mine, don't even think about it" look on their face, others were ripping things off the wall.

On a counter, dozens of handwritten signs read "50% off"...but the sales people hadn't even had time to put them out before people began arriving.

I was at Wickes Furniture today.

A sluggish economy and the housing slump/crisis has finally killed off the already ailing chain and today was their goodbye sale.

I've been there a million times and never bought anything but as I watched the store being decimated, I felt incredibly sad.

Wickes was....well, it was Wickes. A store that was always there and now it's about to be gone.

Along with Levitz...and Broadway...and May Company...and Robinson's...and Robinson's May.

Anyone remember Ohrbach's on Wilshire? Zody's on Sunset Boulevard? Tiny Naylors on La Brea? Ada's Hamburgers on Selma Avenue?

The list goes on and on.

Any favorites that you remember? That you miss?

Meanwhile, bye-bye Wickes.