Cute convenience store case handled with courteous care.

Within the Japanese police, there’s a division called the kidotai. Translating literally to “mobile unit,” the kidotai are essentially the riot cops, dispatched to the scenes of incidents that require a strong police force to secure the area and maintain public order and safety.

So when Japanese Twitter user @sibaken_games spotted some kidotai cops in front of a branch of convenience store chain Lawson, he figured there must be some serious trouble going on, since the police had gone so far as to block off traffic as well. And sure enough, when he got closer he saw that 11 local residents, a mother and her 10 children, were in need of a police escort.

The size of that family might seem shocking, given Japan’s notoriously low birth rate. However, while the birth rate is low for humans in Japan…

…it remains as high as ever for ducks, like the feathered family that the kidotai officers were valiantly protecting from cars as they made their way out of the parking lot.

Mama Duck and her ducklings seem a little trepidatious, but the two officers gently coax them forward with gestures, gentle nudging, and traffic direction signs with arrows pointing in the direction of safety, although it’s unclear if ducks are able to understand the meaning behind such signage. Still, the group manages to make progress, and @sibaken_games says that the officers were leading them in the direction of a nearby stream, which is likely their natural habitat.

It’s worth mentioning once again that this happened outside a branch of Lawson, the same chain which recently had one of its other branches turn off part of its sign at night in order to help some baby swallows sleep better, and also the chain where a family of ducks was spotted browsing around inside a store a while back. We’re not sure if Lawson simply has an outstanding reputation among the avian community in Japan, or if this is just another example of ducks enjoying the high level of hospitality the country has to offer, but either way we’re glad to see the police looking out for them.

Source: Twitter/@sibaken_games via Hachima Kiko
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