The story’s beginning might sound straight out of a nursery rhyme.
Eight little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away … What happens then in the rhyme is that the ducklings get lost one by one, until no little ducks answer mother duck’s quacks.
What happened on a bright Thursday afternoon in New West was quite similar to that sing-along.
On May 25, around 1 p.m., senior animal services officer, Nancy Millar, got a rescue call for ducklings that were stuck in a sewer in Queensborough.
As per a post shared on the New Westminster Animal Services Facebook page, “the residents and a passing courier driver spotted mama duck panicking on the road. They realized her babies had fallen down a sewer drain.”
When Millar reached the spot, she saw that the rescue mission was in full swing by the "heroes" to get a total of eight ducklings back to their mama duck.
“The public helpers held badminton racquets and a net into the drain and got six of them out," Millar told the Record in an email.
"I used a shovel for them to walk onto to lift out the last two,” she added.
New Westminster Animal Services gave a shout-out to the “kind-hearted folks in Queensborough” who helped rescue the baby birds.
“We’d also like to thank our wonderful colleagues in the engineering operations department who came down and were on standby to remove the manhole cover if need be,” the post added.
Getting rescue calls for trapped ducklings is “not uncommon,” said Millar. “This happens from time to time."
"We actually get more calls about them crossing the roads in unsafe areas,” she said.
“There will be many babies of all species over the next few months,” warned Millar. “Please slow down, be patient and let them pass or cross. Do not honk your horn,” she added.
As for this particular incident, just as in the rhyme, all little ducks came back safely to their mama duck.
As confirmed in the animal services Facebook post, it all ended in “a happy reunion in the grass nearby!”
To get information on what to do when you spot a baby bird, check out Wildlife Rescue website, suggested Millar.
