Family of ducks intentionally run over Campbell, CA (US) Incident Date: Friday, Aug 5, 2005 County: Santa Clara Local Map: available Disposition: Open Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help! Case Updates: 6 update(s) available

Case ID: 5317 Classification: Vehicular Animal: bird (wildlife) View more cases in CA (US) Reward: $24,000 Login to Watch this Case

A car wash in the South Bay is offering a reward for the identification of a man who deliberately ran over and killed 10 of the ducks that have been an attraction at the business for years.

A grainy surveillance tape at the Delta Queen Classic Car Wash -- a �theme� wash shaped like a Mississippi riverboat -- shows a man in his late teens or early 20s driving through the parking lot three or four times, aiming for the animals and running them down.

�It�s sickening,� said Chris Foley, a manager at the business, popular for its duck pond and gift shop and located at 981 E. Hamilton Ave. in Campbell.

The incident happened about 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 5 and at first was kept quiet by managers who hoped the driver would return so they could catch him.

Many of the ducks are descendants of a pair named Cheese and Quackers, a gift to the car wash owners from a customer in 1972. About 15 remained after last Friday�s rampage.

Foley said employees turned to the surveillance video after he noticed the dead ducks in the parking lot when he arrived at work. At first, he suspected a careless garbage truck driver, but looking at the tape, he saw that the birds were dead when the garbage truck pulled in that morning.

Rewinding the tape further, he discovered the killer driving a red, two-door Acura Integra with what looked to be a vanity license plate and a parking sticker in the back window. The film is too blurry to make out the plate, so the car wash is asking for the public�s help in identifying the driver.

The car wash is offering a $200 reward for information in the attack, which also is being investigated by Campbell police. Felony animal abuse can bring up to three years in prison.

Vanessa Lopez, a cashier at the Delta Queen, said she noticed that during the fowl massacre, a woman was talking on a nearby public phone.

Foley described the film: �He runs over two ducks and then goes out on the street, makes a U-turn, runs over the ducks again, goes down the lane between the back side of the wash and restaurant where a bunch of ducks are sitting and plows right through them.�

The man then got out of his car and started flushing out the surviving ducks, many of them ducklings, from the bushes. He grabbed a couple and either threw them at his car or into his car, Foley said.

The first ducks to be killed were among the oldest, Foley said. �They were like grandma and grandpa,� he said. Over the years, the birds have become like pets, pecking at the feet of employees and following them around. �They�re like dogs,� Foley said.

Campbell police Capt. Russ Patterson said there are no leads in the case so far. �We�re hoping that the public will be outraged by this thing,� he said. �Clearly it was an intentional act -- driving through and swerving back to hit the ducks sitting there.�

Anyone with information can call the car wash at (408) 377-2525 or Campbell police at (408) 866-2101.

If you have information on this case, please contact:
Campbell police
(408) 866-2101

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References

	NBC 11 - Aug 12, 2005
	SFGate - Aug 12, 2005

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