City Employees Reunite Mama Duck With Her 9 Babies
July 15, 2020 at 2:03 a.m.
City Employees Reunite Mama Duck With Her 9 Babies
By David [email protected]
WRSW Market Manager Woody Zimmerman said he was driving on Ind. 15 with a sales representative and could see about three people and Warsaw Animal Control Officer Justin Curtis standing on the west side of Ind. 15 near Jimmy John’s. Next to them was a mother duck, and Zimmerman figured something was happening so he pulled over.
The three people witnessed the ducklings fall down a sewer drain, with their mother left behind to panic, but they didn’t know how many ducklings there were.
In a video provided by Zimmerman, witness Eduardo Hernandez said, “We were on the road and then my cousin saw the little ducks walking on the street and then the mama. We came to help them cross the road, but they fell down (the manhole) and got stuck.” He said they called the police and fire departments to help the ducklings.
Hernandez said the mother duck was worried and flying around, obviously scared for her babies.
Curtis was able to access a manhole and save two of the ducklings, but the rest had gone through the storm line to the east side of the road near Arby’s, Zimmerman said. Zimmerman walked across Ind. 15 and could hear the quacking ducklings down the manhole over there.
Curtis called the Wastewater Department for assistance, but then he received a 911 call and had to leave. Zimmerman waited for the Wastewater guys to show up, and since the witnesses also had left, Zimmerman explained to the Wastewater employees what had happened to the ducklings.
Warsaw Wastewater Maintenance Technician Jason Nichols said Curtis was on the scene first and he requested assistance from the Wastewater Department, and Zimmerman was able to give the Wastewater employees the “low down” on the duck situation.
The ducklings were quacking so loud, they could be heard from a good distance away from the manhole.
The Wastewater employees tried to rescue the ducklings with a bucket duct taped to the end of a painter’s pole, but Maintenance Technician Don Fouce eventually had to go down the manhole himself to retrieve the ducklings. After rescuing each duckling, they were safely put in a bucket until all of them could be caught.
The duck rescue took about 90 minutes.
Justin Creamer, the third maintenance technician on hand, said after rescuing the ducklings, the plan was to release them back to their mother.
When Nichols and Fouce got over to the retention pond with the ducklings, the mother duck was “quacking” up a storm. Nichols lowered the bucket into the water, and the ducklings swam out quickly to find their mother, who welcomed them back into the fold.
WRSW Market Manager Woody Zimmerman said he was driving on Ind. 15 with a sales representative and could see about three people and Warsaw Animal Control Officer Justin Curtis standing on the west side of Ind. 15 near Jimmy John’s. Next to them was a mother duck, and Zimmerman figured something was happening so he pulled over.
The three people witnessed the ducklings fall down a sewer drain, with their mother left behind to panic, but they didn’t know how many ducklings there were.
In a video provided by Zimmerman, witness Eduardo Hernandez said, “We were on the road and then my cousin saw the little ducks walking on the street and then the mama. We came to help them cross the road, but they fell down (the manhole) and got stuck.” He said they called the police and fire departments to help the ducklings.
Hernandez said the mother duck was worried and flying around, obviously scared for her babies.
Curtis was able to access a manhole and save two of the ducklings, but the rest had gone through the storm line to the east side of the road near Arby’s, Zimmerman said. Zimmerman walked across Ind. 15 and could hear the quacking ducklings down the manhole over there.
Curtis called the Wastewater Department for assistance, but then he received a 911 call and had to leave. Zimmerman waited for the Wastewater guys to show up, and since the witnesses also had left, Zimmerman explained to the Wastewater employees what had happened to the ducklings.
Warsaw Wastewater Maintenance Technician Jason Nichols said Curtis was on the scene first and he requested assistance from the Wastewater Department, and Zimmerman was able to give the Wastewater employees the “low down” on the duck situation.
The ducklings were quacking so loud, they could be heard from a good distance away from the manhole.
The Wastewater employees tried to rescue the ducklings with a bucket duct taped to the end of a painter’s pole, but Maintenance Technician Don Fouce eventually had to go down the manhole himself to retrieve the ducklings. After rescuing each duckling, they were safely put in a bucket until all of them could be caught.
The duck rescue took about 90 minutes.
Justin Creamer, the third maintenance technician on hand, said after rescuing the ducklings, the plan was to release them back to their mother.
When Nichols and Fouce got over to the retention pond with the ducklings, the mother duck was “quacking” up a storm. Nichols lowered the bucket into the water, and the ducklings swam out quickly to find their mother, who welcomed them back into the fold.
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