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Elgin utility workers reunite ducklings with mother

Posted July 08, 2021 1:00 am

Rick West

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Eight ducklings were rescued from a storm drain by Elgin utility workers Wednesday. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

Eight little ducklings were reunited with their mama Wednesday, thanks to Elgin utility workers.

An employee of a business off Big Timber Road called 911 just after 5 p.m. Tuesday after noticing a distressed duck searching near a sewer. The call was transferred to 311 and a dispatcher contacted the city's sewer on-call crew.

That's when utility worker Kevin Smart, a self-proclaimed "big bird guy," got the call from co-worker Matt Waterman to see if he wanted to help.

"He didn't have to ask me twice," Smart said.

The two arrived at the scene and found a mother duck quacking near a catch basin.

"We got closer and we could hear the little 'peep peeps' of the ducklings down the hole," Smart said.

Waterman and Smart removed the cover and grabbed a net they use to scoop dropped keys and other items out of drains and went to work.

Smart said after they pulled the first one out and set it near its mother, the mother took off with the duckling in tow to a nearby retention pond.

"We were like, 'wait, don't want the rest of your ducklings?'" he said.

From there, it was about two hours of "slow and steady work, trying to catch them one at a time while they kept trying to run away," Smart said. Each time he got one out, they'd set it near the water and it would join the family swimming in circles by the shore waiting for the remaining ducklings.

After rescuing the first seven with the net, Smart had to go down the 4-foot-deep hole to rescue the last one by hand. "He wasn't looking so good, but I think he was just tired and scared," he said. "Once he hit the water and realized how close he was to mom, he got a burst of energy."

It was the first animal rescue for Smart, who said he'd been on the job for about a year.

"It was awesome," he said. "It was a happy ending. Mama got all her ducklings back and everybody's gonna live on."

And being a big bird guy, Smart said he told his pet parrots about his heroic adventure when he got home.

"They just looked at me like 'I don't understand what you're saying.'"

A duckling gets his bearings after being rescued from a storm drain by an Elgin utility worker Wednesday. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

Elgin utility worker Kevin Smart uses a net to rescue one of eight ducklings from a storm drain Wednesday. He got seven with the net, but had to climb down to get the eighth by hand. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

Mama duck and her eight ducklings swim away after being reunited Wednesday. The ducklings were rescued from a storm drain by an Elgin utility worker. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

A duckling waits to be reunited with it's mother after being rescued from a storm drain by an Elgin utility worker Wednesday. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

Elgin utility worker Kevin Smart holds one of eight ducklings he and co-worker Matt Waterman rescued from a storm drain Wednesday. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

A mother duck walks around a drain cover where her eight ducklings were stuck on Wednesday before being rescued by Elgin utility workers. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ELGIN

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