Early one evening, I was driving across town to return some sunglasses to a friend. She had said not to bother, but something said to go ahead.

When I was only a couple of blocks from her house, I saw a momma duck with her tiny, fuzzy ducklings following behind her. The ducklings were bunched up so close to her that I couldn't even see how many there were. The trouble was, she was headed for a lake about six blocks away and they would have to cross very busy roads without stop signs.

I turned my truck around, and started following momma and her babies. I'd let her get to an intersection, and then drive into the middle of it to stop any traffic that might come along. By the time we were a block from the street that really worried me, I had attracted the attention of several walkers and bicyclists who realized what I was doing, and they followed along to help.

As luck would have it, there wasn't any traffic when momma reached the intersection, but that probably wouldn't last long. I drove into the middle of the intersection, and my fellow guardians strung themselves out across the street to stop any traffic that might come along. Momma and babies got across the street without incident, and momma hopped up the curb to continue her journey to the lake. But we all watched in horror as most of the ducklings fell through the sewer grate instead of getting up on the sidewalk with momma! Distraught, she came back out into the street, along with the three remaining ducklings.

I parked my truck, grabbed everything I could think of that could possibly help, and we set about trying to get the ducklings out. Naturally, the sewer grate couldn't be pried up, and we couldn't reach down far enough to scoop the babies up. But, I never travel without duct tape! With the duct tape and a plastic container from my truck, I rigged up something that could be pushed down into the sewer to bring up the ducklings. Another woman fashioned a similar utensil. Together, we were able to scoop up three of the babies and return them to momma, who by now was waiting down the block, away from the crowd.

Several people went off to call the fire department, Humane Society, Animal Control --you name it-- but none of them was able to help. We were on our own and there were still several ducklings down there, who were as afraid of being scooped up as they were of being separated from their momma!

Soon, another woman brought a cloth clothespin bag on a length of chain. That was a lot easier to maneuver than the container I had rigged up. With team work we managed to get all the ducklings "scooped" except for one. The last one was very reluctant to be scooped and he kept taking refuge in the sewer pipe. So, we decided to make cheeping noises.

Imagine several adults and kids, lying on our stomachs on the sidewalk and the street, going "cheep, cheep, cheep." We must have been a sight!

Finally the last duckling came out of the sewer pipe, and was quickly scooped into the clothespin bag and returned to his momma. A few of the rescuers said they'd travel the rest of the way to the lake to make sure they made it.

I walked away from this experience with a good feeling for taking the time to help save these tiny lives. The kids, who helped with the rescue, may also have learned lessons about the value of each life, about ingenuity, and about perseverance. We could have given up at any time and accepted it as nature's way.

None of us will ever know how many of the ducklings will ultimately make it, but we can all feel proud for having done our part.

Copyright © Jo Baer
March 27, 2002

Read Jo's other story: The Long Journey Home