Ducklings saved from Regina sewage drain

Two ducklings were rescued in Regina this week after falling through a sewage grate while following their mother to a lake.

Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre West director Megan Lawrencesaid theorganization received a call from a Regina woman who heard some ducklings peeping in the catch basin of a sewer in the north part of the city.

Earlier in the day, the woman and some of her neighbours helped a mother mallard through the neighbourhood to a small lakeclose by.

What they didn't know then was that three of her babies had already fallen through a sewer grate and were trapped below in the cold, murky water.

Lawrence encouraged the woman to also call the City of Regina emergency line to have members of the water and sewer department meet there to remove the grate.

"I was very impressed that they took it very seriously that the little ducklings were stuck down there and needed help right away," said Lawrence.

"We could see that one of them down there was deceased but the other two were trying to swim around," said Lawrence. "We took a net with a really long handle and scooped them out and they were very cold, hypothermic, wet and dirty when we got them out."

Lawrence quickly dried them off and warmed them up in a towel.

Soon after, the mother mallard was found at a nearby lake with her other ducklings.

"The ones that we rescued were very weak from being hypothermic so we weren't able to get them back to mom that evening," Lawrence said.

Salthaven kept the ducklingsin an incubator overnight and tried to find the mallard again the next morning, without success.

Now, the two surviving ducklings are in care with five others that have been rescued this spring.

Lawrence said they are all warmed up, active, eating and drinking on their own.

"It's a great feeling to know that with everyone's quick actions and quick thinkingthat we were able to get them out in time because they wouldn't have lasted much longer down in the cold water," she said.