A duck family is back together and safe after City of Lethbridge employees saved them from a concerning situation.
According to city officials, a duck and duckling were spotted Wednesday morning by Lisa Nast, a Waste & Recycling Technologist on the side of the road. Nast is said to have noticed the birds were alarmingly close to a storm drain, sparking her to contact the GM of Capital Planning and Engineering, Jeff Koshuta, Water and Wastewater Operations Manager, Leanne Lammertsen and Water & Wastewater Operations Foreman, Jamie VandenHeuvel. The three took over, coordinating a rescue team that would use available tools to get the ducks out of harm’s way.
Members of the Water & Wastewater Operations team, Darren Hill and Devin Moore, were performing regular sewer line monitoring when they were called to help with the situation.
When the pair arrived in the area of 13th Street South and 11th Avenue South they found the mama duck quacking and circling the catch basin.
“We actually had to stop traffic for a couple of minutes, because she panicked and ran across the road when we showed up, he says. He adds by this time the third duckling had fallen into the catch basin, with the mama having settled in a nearby front yard, making it a smooth operation to start.
“We lured the first two ducklings on a shovel, then transferred them into a bucket,” says Darren. “The little ones were reunited with their mother, but what about duckling number three?”
The third duckling ran along a storm line scared Hill says, which is dangerous because it feeds into the storm main, making it impossible to reach if it fell. Senior Flusher Adam Roth, whose role helps to clean and maintain the sewer and stormwater systems, was called and asked to gently flush the duckling out with water. B
However, Roth is said to have a different idea, suggesting using ‘mother duck noises’ to coax the duckling out.
“So, we found something on YouTube, played it over our smartphone speaker, and the duckling noticed,” Hill says. “It was pretty wild – I said to Devin, ‘Well, no matter what else happens today, it’s been a pretty great day.”
He adds they also had help from Senior Flusher, Ken Hurkens who has previously been a part of goose rescues and shared logistical support he had from those experiences.
