AR-News: (VT - US) Town Rescues Trapped Ducks

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May 31, 9:08 AM EDT
Town Rescues Trapped Ducks 

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- The journey from downtown Burlington to Lake Champlain was fraught with peril for a duck and her 13 ducklings - but a group effort by concerned citizens saved the day.

A mama mallard and her 13 ducklings were strolling from downtown to the bay one afternoon last week when several little ones fell through the slits of a storm drain, plopping into a pool of water formed by the day's thunderstorms.

"They were peeping away and the mother was quacking back," said Kyle Church, a computer technician who was one of the first people at the scene.
 
The mother circled the drain frantically, becoming increasingly upset when the remaining birds that followed her footsteps fell through the opening.

Church sprang into action as he and co-worker John Greenia ripped off the sewer grate. Greenia climbed into the storm drain and fished out as many ducklings as he could.

But some started swimming toward the lake and were out of reach. Mother duck listened and followed their peeps right to the next sewer grate, which more of her babies once again fell through.

It was time to call the authorities.
 
Jodi Harvey, animal control officer with the Burlington police, arrived to find a crowd around the quacking and peeping birds.

"I figured, 'God, what am I going to do?'" she said. "I couldn't leave them here. I scooped the babies up first. I had to hold up traffic."

Onlooker Krista Lothrop handed Harvey a cardboard box, and Harvey put the ducks inside. The ducks then got a lift to the lake in a police cruiser and calmly swam away.

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