Althouse: Wait. Why was this duck taken to the hospital?

January 21, 2007

Wait. Why was this duck taken to the hospital?

Our respect for the will to live is touching and strange.

17 comments:

Joe Giles said...: If I had a better information retrieval system I could use all those waterfowl/Schiavo jokes I've been storing.; 1/21/07, 5:23 PM
Anonymous said...: OK so this is a compelling story of survival of the frozen, but why has this blog not caught up with THE medical story of the week, the year, the century or any other timeframe one might wish to contemplate:

"An angry Romanian doctor has cut off a patient's penis during surgery and chopped it into small pieces.

Surgeon Naum Ciomu was operating on patient Nelu Radonescu, 36, to correct a testicular malformation when he suddenly lost his temper.

Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital.

They said he had been under stress and had lost his temper after he accidentally cut the man's urinary channel and 'overreacted' to the situation. He told the court it was a temporary loss of judgement due to personal problems."; 1/21/07, 5:35 PM
Meade said...: And what sort of slob duck hunter fails to field dress or breast out the game upon retrieval while it is still warm?; 1/21/07, 5:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Peter: Check the recent posts.; 1/21/07, 6:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Jeez, I just proposed marriage to the Professor and all I got was an error message from Google!; 1/21/07, 6:38 PM
The Drill SGT said...: I agree about not dressing out the duck in the field.

Why is it surprising that a duck can survive at 40 degrees for 2 days.

I've seen ducks caught in much colder temps in the wild.; 1/21/07, 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: I have seen an American - not the same one - do two things that are utterly unconscionable in our society:

The first was to take a dead squirrel, skin it, gut it and roast it on an open fire before the disbelieving audience of a rock music festival.

The second was to floss his teeth on a London Underground train in the middle of the rush hour.

On neither occasion, naturally, did anyone say anything to the perpetrator. It's just not our way.; 1/21/07, 7:42 PM
paul a'barge said...: the hunter? Full stop here, folks.

This moron is NOT a hunter. He is an idiot.

I hate to go all hunter-spiritual in Althouse's comments, but if killing an animal you plan to eat is to have honor, you don't just toss the animal in the fridge, wounded.

Frankly, it may sound gruesome, but you do something to make sure the animal is gone, in other words, not suffering. Ripping the head off is one option.

Just once, I'd like to be in the field, next to one of these morons. As in "meet my butt stock, bozo."; 1/21/07, 8:21 PM
Anonymous said...: joe baby said, living up to the time honored tradition (in the Althouse comments, that is) of making asinine parallels between two completely unrelated things to further their conservative agenda!:

If I had a better information retrieval system I could use all those waterfowl/Schiavo jokes I've been storing.

Because God forbid you just let anything be lighthearted or just gloss over the story if you don't particularly care about it. God forbid you not seize the opportunity to point out the irony of how the damn dirty MSM is so in love with chirpy little ducks being saved, but just wanted Terry Schiavo dead!!; 1/21/07, 9:32 PM
Joe Giles said...: Brad, if I frowned upon lighthearted comments, wouldn't I sound more like you?

Time honored, since January 2004!; 1/21/07, 10:25 PM
LoafingOaf said...: Why did they take the duck to the vet? Because when the duck was suffering in their fridge it was harder to be heartless to the duck. They softened to the duck. They had to digest that this was a living, feeling creature, and suddenly there was compassion. It's too bad people supress that sort of compassion much of the time. It's why people love their dogs but abide all kinds of horrors inflicted on animals they stop themselves from seeing as living beings worthy of compassion and respect.; 1/22/07, 12:52 AM
hdhouse said...: I imagine a heaven where all creatures great and small are given equal value and where the ducks would be lined up waiting in this particular case.

i know there was a time when people hunted to sustain and i can go with the food chain but up to a point. to kill for decoration or just the fun of the killing when unnecessary is not an admirable trait.; 1/22/07, 7:26 AM
vbspurs said...: Why was this duck taken to the hospital?

To get to the other side of the road?

Cheers,
Victoria; 1/22/07, 11:11 AM
AllenS said...: I am a duck hunter, and I'll tell you why you don't field dress a duck immediately after shooting it. Ducks have pin feathers. After plucking the feathers, there are those damn pin feathers left sticking in the skin. The best way to remove them is to dip the duck in melted paraffin, allow it to dry and harden (couple of minutes), then remove the crusty wax. Fowl tastes better, and is moister if you cook it with the skin on.; 1/22/07, 11:55 AM
paul a'barge said...: I am a duck hunter, and I'll tell you why you don't field dress a duck immediately after shooting it. Ducks have pin feathers

I can't imagine in this case a duck is much different than a Texas turkey. And in that case, if you gut the bird and hang it by its feet from a branch about head height, and start pulling feathers virtually immediately after killing the bird, all those problematic feathers will come out in your hand like butter.; 1/22/07, 2:28 PM
AllenS said...: paul,

A pin feather is a feather that hasn't completely formed. There is no feather, just the base of the feather (the quill part, stuck in, and under the skin) with about a quarter of an inch of small, forming feather sticking out. There's nothing to grab onto. I've killed my share of Wisconsin turkeys and have never encountered a pinfeather. I'm not sure, but I'd guess the difference is that ducks have feathers that have more oil(?) in them because they float in water.; 1/22/07, 4:39 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Tim Sisk said...
Not to beat a semi-dead duck to death, but why would defeathering a fowl have anything to do with removing the organs from the carcass?

I don't want to eat no duck that has been left in the freezer for days before it has been "dressed" (or undressed). Curious story all the way around.

Tim, while I agree with you and not Allen, 2 comments:

1. If one were to use the dunk in paraffin method of feather removal recommended by Allen, it would make sense to have not gutted the bird yet, lest you coat the inside with wax.

2. even more interesting, it wasn't a freezer, but a refrig, that the duck was stored in. exacerbating the game issue.; 1/22/07, 7:42 PM