Not All Savages Are Republicans

I spent New Year's Eve watching undisturbed wildlife on the Galapagos Islands. It was truly awe-inspiring. The animals are so unafraid of humans that they are almost oblivious to our presence. One newborn baby sea lion mistook one of our party for its mother and tried to get close. We were all briefed in advance, of course, not to touch any animals. In the case of a baby sea lion it could be life and death. If the mother were to get back and call her baby and the baby responded and then the mother smelled something different on the baby-- like eau-de-human-- she would reject and abandon the pup immediately and it would die. The Galapagos is just for communing with nature and marveling at the undisturbed beauty of the varied fauna in the wild.

Nashua, New Hampshire, isn't the Galapagos... nor even Memphis. And the Crowne Plaza there is hardly the stately Peabody, which is famous for its well-behaved ducks-- a drake and four hens-- who, since 1930, have come down from their penthouse to the strains of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton in the elevator and paraded through the lobby to the fountain for a swim. And, thankfully, the savage and primitive Duck Dynasty slobs haven't come by the Peabody.

Apparently, though, it isn't just GOP barbarians ducks need to worry about, at least not in New Hampshire. David Campbell is a 34-year-old state Rep from Nashua, a centrist Democrat. And he drives a BMW. Last Monday, he drove that Beemer into a flock of ducks and killed some. He then drove away before the police arrived.

“I hit some ducks,” Campbell said in an interview with The Telegraph. “Some people were feeding ducks on the driveway in front of the Crowne Plaza at 10 o’clock at night … and they didn’t move, and I hit some ducks.”

Campbell said he feels “terrible” about it, but declined to comment further about what took place until a police investigation into the matter concludes.

“I’d like to wait and see what they come out with,” Campbell said.

The incident was brought to light by retired U.S. Marine officer James Murphy, a Florida resident who was preparing to check into the hotel Monday evening when Campbell’s car collided with what he described as a pack of about 20 ducks in the road.

...“All of a sudden, this 5 Series BMW comes up, it’s going about 15 miles an hour, and then when he gets to the ducks, it’s not like it even slowed down,” Murphy said.

“It just crushed all of the ducks.”

Murphy said he believes as many as six ducks were killed and a handful of others returned to the pond at the Crowne Plaza with apparent injuries.

Appalled by the scene, Murphy said he followed the BMW a few dozen feet down the road and took a picture of the license plate when the driver stopped.

He said a man wearing a navy blue suit with a white shirt and red tie got out, leaned against the side of the car and said words to the effect of, “The ducks should have moved.”

After exchanging words with the driver, Murphy said the man got back into his BMW and parked in the hotel’s nearby parking garage. Murphy said the man walked back toward the hotel, then headed toward the main entrance and left before he was interviewed by police.

Murphy said he called police because he was struck by the driver’s indifference.

“That was just a blatant disregard for just everyone involved,” Murphy said.

“It was kind of a surreal situation here, like, ‘I can’t believe this just happened.’"

...Campbell, a Nashua attorney, is serving his seventh term in the House, where he chairs the Public Works and Highways Committee. He also chairs the Capital Budget Overview Committee and the Long Range Capital Planning and Utilization Committee.

Campbell graduated with honors from Harvard College and Suffolk University Law School, and is admitted to the bar in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to biographical information available on his legislative profile.

...New Hampshire law doesn’t require motorists to report hitting a wild animal, according to state Fish and Game Lt. Jim Juneau, a conservation officer supervising operations in five counties.

Juneau said Fish and Game officers were notified Monday night about the incident, but it doesn’t appear they tried to render medical help, given the severity of the ducks’ injuries.

“I don’t think there was anything that could be done at that point,” Juneau said.

Let's just hope Jimmy Kimmel doesn't wind up booking Campbell and Morrissey on his TV show the same night!