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Police officers and firefighters joined forces today to rescue nearly a dozen ducklings from a deep drain in the middle of one of Auckland’s busy highways.
A group of ducklings was rescued from a deep drain on Auckland’s Southwest Highway.
Photo: Sarah robson
Motorists spotted the duck family on the Southwest Highway near Mount Roskill and called police shortly before 10 a.m.
Sergeant Andy Meale said that when officers appeared, there were no ducklings in sight, but they heard some squawking in a drain in the middle of one of the lanes of traffic.
Emergency crews try to rescue the ducks from the highway drain.
Photo: Supplied
“[The officer] he looked down and it was quite deep and he could see that there were probably nine or ten ducklings there, “he said.
“The mother was floating around the highway, nearby, sitting on the concrete barrier between the south and north lanes.”
Meale said that the police are not really equipped for this type of operation, so they called Fire and Emergencies.
“They very kindly sent two trucks.”
Firefighters were able to remove the grate from the top of the drain. They used a duffel bag tied to a string and a long stick to push the ducklings into the bag and out of the drain.
The entire operation took about 15 minutes, Meale said.
“Mom was keeping an eye on things, but then she jumped into the lanes heading north. We were trying to chase her away and she only took off at the last second when a car almost hit her.
“It flew into an area of brush on the west side of the highway, so once the firefighters had picked up all the ducklings, they drove around in their trucks and found a small lake of stormwater.
“Mommy was floating around with other ducklings, so as soon as they released the recovered ducklings, Mommy swam very excited and brought the whole group together and it was a happy and reunited family.”
Meale said police get a lot of calls about ducks and other animals on the freeways.
“Very often it is a sad ending and the animal is crushed before we can get there.
“Likewise on other occasions we have had happy endings like today, we have recovered goats, sheep and all kinds of animals – you would be surprised what ends up on the highway.”
Ducklings are released into a small stormwater lake.
Photo: Sarah robson
