Woman stops to help ducklings, gets ticket

Updated
New Hampshire Woman Stops to Help Ducks on Highway, Gets Ticket
New Hampshire Woman Stops to Help Ducks on Highway, Gets Ticket


A Newfields woman who stopped in the median of a New Hampshire highway to help some stranded ducklings was ticketed by state police.



Hallie Bibeau, 33, said she was trying to be a humanitarian when she saw the group of ducklings and their mother, who had been hit by a car. She said she was driving east on Route 101 by exit 8 on Friday when she had to slam on her brakes and pull over to avoid hitting the ducklings.

"I could hear them peeping, and I looked over the right hand side of the road, and I saw that their mom had been hit and was dead on the side, so I couldn't just continue on," she said.

Bibeau, a new mother herself, called 911.

"And while I was sitting there, I saw a few of them try to go to the westbound lane and got run over, and it was terrible to see," she said.

Bibeau got out of her car and captured the two survivors.

Seeing the commotion, an ambulance on its way to another incident further east on Route 101 stopped.

"She explained to them that she wasn't in distress," said state police Lt. Nicole Armaganian. "She saw a mother duckling get hit by a vehicle, and it had its baby ducklings in tow."

Not far behind was a state trooper. He asked for Bibeau's identification and issued her $100 ticket for stopping in the median, a prohibited area.

"We keep our medians free for vehicles who are truly having an emergency, such as the vehicle that was up ahead," Armaganian said. "Stopping for an injured duck or ducklings is not what we would consider to be an emergency."

Bibeau said she will contest the ticket, but even if she has to pay, she'd do it all over again.

"For the mom that had gotten hit, I just wanted to do whatever I could for her ducklings, and if I could save two of them, I could save two of them," she said.

The two ducklings were taken to a wildlife rescue in Maine, where officials said one of them has died.

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