WASHINGTON - The Secret Service, which has the job of guarding the president and other dignitaries, now has a new temporary duty — protecting a mother duck and her nine eggs.

The duck, a brown mallard with white markings, has had several names suggested by Treasury Department people, including "Quacks Reform," "T-Bill," and "Duck Cheney." It has built a nest in a mulch pile right at the main entrance to the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Secret Service's uniformed division, which provides protection for the White House and Treasury building, has set up metal guard rails to protect the nest, which has attracted the notice of tourists on their way to see the White House.

The duck has been provided with a water bowl and seems oblivious to all the attention, sitting calmly on its nest on top of the mulch pile that surrounds one of the new trees planted along Pennsylvania Avenue as part of a renovation project.

Treasury Secretary John Snow stopped to pay his respects this week on the way back from a congressional hearing, Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols said Friday.

"He had been briefed on the duck and he stopped to pay a visit," said Nichols.

The eggs are expected to hatch the last week of April at which time the duck will be relocated nearer water. But until then, the duck will occupy some of Washington's prime real estate.

"Foreign leaders, members of Congress, everybody who visits Treasury has to pass by the duck," Nichols said.
Source
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty cool that the goverment is going to protect and let the ducks stay until they are hatched.

Neato. The government is actually going to take care of the duck and eggs. Thats something different.

*giggles
that's cute.

Those are some lucky little duckies!

That's cute! ^^

awwww...i though our government didn't care much for animals.

Hehe that is cute.

Gosh, what a great story! It's nice to see the government has a human side.

soon that mother duck will be telling all her friends to lay their eggs there too.

How cute !

Yeah, well, as cute as it is, I suppose the public resources spent on protecting those ducks could have been better spent on lifting one human child in Chicago or New York from the grip of poverty or lack of available education.

Well, just wait till "Duckygate". It'll happen...just wait.

Actually, Pallidin, as I read it the only thing they've done to protect her is put up a railing (probably cheap and undoubtedly re-usable) and keep an eye on her. The guards are there anyway. They're guarding that big government building she's in front of. I seriously doubt they're spending enough resources to lift *anyone* from poverty.

Yeah, maybe your right. I suppose the GAO would not have above $3,000 on their books to account for this.
I wonder what might happen if 3 grand were allocated to a human family-vs-2 ducks.

Where do you get the idea that they're spending $3,000?? Seriously, they dug up a railing somewhere and put down a bowl of water. That doesn't take a budget. There's no money involved. No one is being deprived by these people playing a little attention to a cute duck. Why are you trying to turn this story into something controversial?

I'm sure your absolutely correct. It just irks me that protective attention is paid to 2 ducks nesting at the Treasury building than a homeless man doing the same. Oh well, enough said!

lol because ducks are more important than people pal.

I've got nothing at all against what they're doing, just seems like any common sense decent thing to do... doesn't supprise me one bit they're doing this. It's the environmentalists that force people to do drastic unwholesome things... by nature I think most people would have done the same despite what lefties say.

Duck laid eggs by the door of the bank building here last year and everyone NRA and Bush lovers all were all goo-goo over the dumb duck. Everyone (including myself) looked after them and smiled at them and left them mostly undisturbed... threw out some bread and whatnot for them. Didn't cost anyone anything, no budget was set aside...

But this is our Govt. we're talking about!!! You *know* they've budgeted this. $3k, doesn't sound far off either what I'd expect from them. I can just hear senators Palosi and Kennedy now saying we didn't spend enough for this duck and how we're cruel it didn't have air conditioned quarters and how is a jobless mother duck supposed to support all her chicks, and... lousy senators.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...uck_security_dc

Officials Heighten Duck Security at Summit

38 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials bolstered security on Thursday for a duck nursing eggs near the White House to protect her from demonstrators at a global economic summit beginning on Friday.

Officials are concerned protesters could disturb the mallard hen, who is incubating what officials say are nine eggs at the foot of a tree on the sidewalk in front of the Treasury Department and next door to the presidential residence.


"We are widening the perimeter around the duck as a precautionary measure," Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols said.


The waterfowl, who may now be one of the best-protected birds on the planet, laid her eggs on top if a mound of mulch at the foot of a freshly planted sapling over the weekend of April 2-3. Her ducklings are expected to hatch the week of April 25-29.


Meanwhile, groups protesting the meetings of members of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Group of Seven major industrial nations have scheduled a Friday rally at an intersection, yards from the bird.


Some demonstrations at economic summits in recent years have turned into violent confrontations between police and protesters. Tens of thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators shut down a 1999 international trade ministers meeting in Seattle, and protests disrupted World Bank-IMF meetings in Washington in 2000.


But demonstrations at gatherings of world economic policy makers have dwindled in size and rowdiness since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and security has tightened. Organizers said protesters were likely to number in the hundreds this weekend.


Even so, workers on Thursday afternoon erected a second line of metal crowd-control barriers about 10 feet outside stanchions already in place to keep gawkers at arm's length from the duck.


The bird spends her days nibbling mulch around her, dozing in the spring sunshine, or feathering her nest. Every evening at dusk, she covers her eggs and leaves for about 15 minutes to feed, a Treasury official said.

Decision-making about the duck's safety was closely guarded.

"We don't comment on security matters," Nichols said.

That duck's got herself a fine piece of realestate.