Lucky ducks: Algonquin officers rescue ducklings from sewer drain

Algonquin police officers were able to save nine baby ducklings unharmed after they stumbled into a sewer drain Sunday.

That afternoon, officers Matthew Hunter and Mike Randall were called to the Fitness 19 parking lot, at 189 S. Randall Road, for a duck rescue. A caller who reported the mishap was parked near the sewer grate.

“She heard chirping but didn’t see anything,” Hunter said. “So, she sees a mama duck flying around, walks over to the sewer grate, looks down and sees, I think, nine total baby duckies, and they were just swimming frantically.”

Hunter and Randall used a giant fishing net that they had at the police department to scoop up each duckling one by one out of the sewer drain. Hunter said the large net comes in handy for their many duck rescue missions.

“Believe it or not, these [calls] are more common than you think,” he said.

The babies lucked out because the mom duck was right there to take them back under her wing, Hunter said. In other rescues, officers will hope a parent duck is nearby, or they contact animal control. Even luckier, all the ducklings in this case were uninjured, despite dropping almost 6 feet into a foot of water.

“For them to be uninjured was very good,” Hunter said.