I was sitting out on my balcony this afternoon, trying to relax despite one of my wisdom teeth acting up and hurting like hell. I have a view of two ponds and all the ducks that live around them. Some of the neighborhood kids were out playing and suddenly decided to start harassing the wildlife. They chased ducks around, at first just trying to make them run for the water. But then they started picking up handfuls of gravel from the walking trails and throwing gravel at the ducks. You'd see it splash down all around the ducks in the water. Then, they started throwing it at ducks as they chased them around on land. I could hear the pebbles bouncing off the ducks' wings.
I stood up and watched in disgust, trying to think of an appropriate phrase to yell down from the balcony. I had my cellphone out and was just about to go in and get the number to call the cops when one of their mothers (a lady in a headscarf, obviously Muslim) caught them. The mother gave them a good talking-to, in English so I was able to hear something about "the book of Judgement". (I'm not religious, but at the moment the fear of god was as good as anything to get a bunch of crotchfruit to stop bothering the wildlife.) Even then, there was one little brat out of the three who couldn't resist lunging at the ducks even with the mother watching.
I refrained from yelling off the balcony or calling the cops. But my conscious was still nagging at me to do something about this shit, rather than be a pussy and do nothing. I threw on my shoes and went downstairs, figuring I would politely but firmly tell the mother that I would call the cops if I ever see that shit again. Didn't get to. She was telling the kids "Come on. Let's go." for them to follow her back to whatever building they live in. So, the closest I ever got was maybe fifty feet. But I'm sure she saw me, standing there in the grass, a 6'3" pissed-off looking white American dressed in all black, giving her and her kids an angry look. She was definitely anxious to get the brats out of the area.
My question is this: If I see the little fuckstains doing it again, should I yell down from the balcony and try to scare them out of it first, or just go ahead and call the cops? I've seen these same kids playing out by the ponds many times before, so I'm sure it's a question of "if" not "when" they fuck with the ducks again.