06-17-2004, 06:29 AM
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#52 (permalink)
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Tilted
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The ducks are ok!
Quote:
Five ducklings rescued from sewer
By KATE GARSOMBKE
For the Daily Tribune
STEVENS POINT - It was a beautiful day - the sun was shining, the birds were singing. Strangers smiled and greeted each other as they passed on the sidewalk.
But as people strolled Friday along downtown's Main Street, panicked quacks and peeps suddenly pierced the calmness. Something had gone wrong.
Brandi Roberts, owner and manager of Layla's Garden Deli, noticed that a mother duck had tried crossing Main Street with her ducklings. One by one, five ducklings fell through a storm sewer grate.
"I saw one of them fall, and the mom got scared and took off," she said.
Acting fast, Roberts picked up the phone and called for help.
Stevens Point firefighters and two Portage County Humane Society officers showed up shortly before 10 a.m. and began their daring rescue. A crowd of onlookers grew as firefighters removed a manhole cover and went below the street to fetch the ducklings.
The crew thought it had gathered up all of the chicks when they heard more frenzied peeping coming from the storm sewer.
Firefighters placed the captured ducklings in a pet carrier and lowered the cage into the storm sewer, hoping the other birds' cries would attract the lone chick. Once all of the ducklings were rescued, humane officers took them and went in search of their mother.
Ducks lost downtown aren't a rare occurrence. Many are just trying to get to Pfiffner Pioneer Park, where there is water, said Debbie Duernberger, a humane officer.
Duernberger and humane officer Jenny Stormoen went to the park and spotted a mother duck swimming with two ducklings. They figured this was the ducklings' mother.
"When we first opened up the cage, she came in closer and kept looking at them," Duernberger said. "As soon as she heard chirping, she came right over. She was very happy."
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Wisconsin Rapids Daily
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