Lucky ducks: City staff rescue feathered family

How many humans does it take to save three ducklings? It turns out the answer is: approximately eight.

Human number one: Lisa Nast. While driving to work along 13 Street South Wednesday morning, the Waste & Recycling Technologist was surprised to see a duck and a duckling on the side of the road. She noticed they were dangerously close to a storm drain. Duck… duckling… storm drain… busy road. That’s not a good combination. Lisa had to do something. So, she reached out to humans two, three and four: Jeff Koshuta (GM of Capital Planning & Engineering), Leanne Lammertsen (Water & Wastewater Operations Manager) and Jamie VandenHeuvel (Water & Wastewater Operations Foreman).

That trio took over to coordinate a rescue team. Leanne promised Lisa, “we have the tools” and Jamie mobilized humans five and six.

Darren Hill and Devin Moore are members of the Water & Wastewater Operations team. The duo was performing regular sewer line monitoring when they were called into action. They flew (not literally…) to the area of 13 Street South and 11 Avenue South. It didn't take long to realize what was happening.

“Mama duck was quacking and circling the catch basin,” says Darren. “We actually had to stop traffic for a couple of minutes, because she panicked and ran across the road when we showed up.”

By this time, the third duckling had also fallen into the catch basin. Thankfully, mama settled in a nearby front yard, so Darren and Devin could begin the rescue operation. At first, it was a smooth operation.

“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?

“That little one got a bit scared and ran along a storm line,” recounts Darren. “That feeds into the storm main, and if the duckling fell down that far, there’s no way we could have reached it.”

So, what to do? Darren reached out to human number seven, Adam Roth, Senior Flusher. Adam’s role helps to clean and maintain the sewer and stormwater systems and is an expert on how the water flows through the collection systems around the city. Darren asked Adam about gently flushing the duckling out with water. But Adam had a different idea. And it turned out to be a genius move.

“Adam suggested we search for ‘mother duck noises’ to coax the duckling to us,” Darren says. “So, we found something on YouTube, played it over our smartphone speaker, and the duckling noticed!”

It sure did! Slowly but kind of surely, the duckling made its way onto the shovel. Into the bucket it went and this whole ordeal ended with a happy family reunion!

And what about human number eight? That’s Senior Flusher, Ken Hurkens. He’s completed previous goose rescues and provided Darren and Devin with logistical support from afar.

All in all, not a bad start to a Wednesday workday.

“It was pretty wild,” chuckles Darren. “I said to Devin, ‘Well, no matter what else happens today, it’s been a pretty great day’!”