A ducky escape: Russian emergency workers launch operation to rescue duckling trapped in sewer grate & reunite it with family
A team of rescue workers based at a Moscow airport launched a quack response on Thursday in response to worrying reports that a baby duckling was stuck in a nearby drain, springing into action to save the bird from a fowl end.
A statement issued by the Moscow Aviation Centre later that day outlined how the emergency workers had been called to a storm grate in the Butovo district in the south of the Russian capital. Eyewitnesses had reported ducklings being swept into the drain. Moscow had been experiencing some eggstreme rains earlier that day after a week of unseasonably warm weather.
“At the scene, the callers said that they found several ducklings on the edge of the drain and carried them away into the grass,” said the senior duty shift supervisor, Sergey Mikhailov.
“We had to check the collector to see if there were any more babies. We went down and found another duckling,” Mikhailov added.
Hoping to reunite the chick with its family, rather than releasing it to fend for itself, the team tracked down a female duck who appeared to fit the bill, swimming with the rest of her brood in a nearby pond. According to the statement, "the baby was released safely into the water to its happy mother."
Just the day before, a group of rescuers from the SpasReserv volunteer emergency service stepped in to help a similarly-stuck feathered friend. A pigeon nestling had reportedly fallen into a ventilation shaft in a Moscow apartment building, becoming lodged behind a bathroom vent. Luckily for the chick, the volunteers were able to dismantle the fan and find a place for the squab at a bird rehabilitation centre.
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