The fire department may have the monopoly on rescuing kittens in trees, but when it comes to saving ducklings, public works are the experts.
On Sunday, a city public works employee rescued several ducklings from a storm sewer in Lacombe Park. The ducks were headed to a nearby pond when they were attacked by crows and scattered.
While the mother and two of her offspring took refuge in a bush, the other ducklings found themselves at the bottom of a catch basin.
Two girls witnessed the scene. They chased the crows away, before calling the fire department for help. The fire department passed the call on to public works.
It’s not uncommon for ducks, and especially ducklings, to fall in to these storm water drains, said Jason McDowall, who rescued the ducklings.
Often gutters are the nearest form of shelter from predators.
“For ducks, it’s real easy to fall in. But they’re quite deep. They couldn’t get out, it was too high for them,” he said.
It’s also too deep (three feet) for someone to simply reach down and pull out the ducks. That’s where McDowall came in.
Unlike the ducklings, it was a bit of a squeeze for McDowall. When he did make it down through the 1.5 foot wide opening, the ducklings came running towards him.
“I think they were all a bit scared. They didn’t know what was going on,” said McDowall.
After lifting the ducklings out of catch basin in a bucket, he returned them to their mother, who was still hiding in the bush close by.
It was a joyful reunion. The ducklings were gone as quick as they came –disappearing into the shrubbery with quacks of relief.
“As soon as we put them in the bush they all went running for the mom and making the little quacking noise. It was quite cute,” said McDowall.
Brenda Cleland was walking her two dogs when McDowall rescued the ducklings. She was impressed by the rescue efforts. “When the other man said he went right down (the storm drain), I thought what a nice guy,” she said.
Over the course of his six years as a city employee, McDowall has actually saved many a duckling. Just last week a few ducklings got stuck in a fence, trying to follow their mother, who flew over it. McDowall helped free them.
Although not part of the original job description, McDowall said he’s always happy to help his feathered friends. He describes all the ducklings he’s encountered as “really friendly.”
“I thought I’d just be doing sewer problems, not going into catch basins and saving little ducks. But they’re so cute, it’s the only thing you can do,” he said.
