Duck Adventures!

Last Monday evening we were getting ready for Family Home Evening when our plans were diverted. CE spotted this duck in the backyard. He wanted to go see what was going on and I gave him the camera. The duck has her head in the fence trying to figure out how to get to the other side.

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but if you look close, on the other side of the fence under this trailer are the ducks 5 little ducklings.

Our neighbor saw CE and checked to see what he was taking pictures of. She was worried about the safety of the ducklings (she has 2 dogs, we have 2 dogs and 2 cats) and thought we should gather them and take them and the mom down to the duck pond about 1/2 mile away. CD and CE picked up the ducklings and put them in a box provided by our neighbor.

Gathering up "mom" was much more difficult.

A couple neighbors and CE tried for about 45 min to get "mom".

After our failed attempts CD and I tried sitting quietly with the box but the "mom" had flown off and not returned. While we were there one of our cats came up and quicker than we could do anything about it, she snatched a duckling from the box. CD screamed so loud that the cat quickly dropped the baby unharmed and took off. K suggested we just put the ducklings in the field and let the mom come to them and let things be. We worried like the neighbor but didn't know what else to do. All but one cat were in the house so we sent CE to bring in the cat and then CD and I found a place in the field for the ducklings. About 10 or 15 minutes later CD asked if she could go check on them. That is when CE mentioned that he couldn't find the other cat and so never brought her in. CD freaked and ran out to the field. They were all gone. But to her relief she saw them (still without mom) walking across the street. But then she ran in saying they were almost hit by a car and really worried about them. One of them was lagging way behind and she "rescued" that one and then ran in the house asking for help. I went out and as I was crossing the street I could see them waddling just on the other side in the gutter. Unfortunately they wandered onto the storm drain and fell right through, trapping them about a foot and a half below us. There we stood with one duckling and the other four quacking frantically below us with no way to get them out. They wandered down the tunnel across the street and then came back. We were glad they returned, but we still were at a loss on how to get them out as the drain was cemented in.

CD was in tears and terrified and K just wanted to go to bed but knew he couldn't with his daughter and wife sitting desperate on the curb. We called dispatch and 2 officers came to check it out and then they called Lynette (Animal Control Officer). She had a few tools but all were too large to fit in the drain. She made a few calls for ideas, but yet still no solutions. I had given a suggestion to use a shoelace as a lasso but when J tried it out it was too flimsy and didn't work. One of the officers suggested maybe putting a bag in the the drain and see if they would crawl into it and then pull it up. No one was confident about it but it was worth a shot so I went home to get a bag. While there K said, "hang on, I have an idea that should work" and he quickly took a hanger, straightened it out, uniquely attached a shoelace to a loop he made on the end, made a noose that you could easily loosen and tighten up and handed it to me.


K's tool worked like a charm and Lynette quickly was able to pull out 3 of the ducklings. Unfortunately, one had wonder off down the tunneling and we couldn't find it. While we were trying to get them out the mom came back and hung around but by the time they were out, she was gone again. Lynette was going to drive around and try to find her. If she did, she said she would return the ducklings to her. If not she would keep them for the night, come back in the AM and see if the other duckling or the mom showed up. She kept the "tool" for her collection, being very impressed with it's effectiveness. However, she did say that in 17 years on the job, this was a first---so she may not need it again. If she couldn't locate the mom she would take the duckings to the wildlife reserve or the Nature Center where they nurse wildlife back to health. I haven't talked to Lynette but a few days later I did see a mom and 5 ducklings crossing the street close to home and I like to think she was able to get the last one out of the drain and the mom returned.