Public Works, Animal Control Rescue Three Ducklings from Dan’s Highway Storm Drain [VIDEO]

Alerted by a conscientious resident, municipal officials on Wednesday morning rescued three baby ducklings who had fallen into a Dan’s Highway storm drain.

Shannon Rock, a resident of the street, spotted the mother duck frantically waddling near the storm drain and notified the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the section.

L-R: Michael Schiano and Sean Halloran of the New Canaan Department of Public Works/Highway assisted NCPD Animal Control with the rescue of three ducklings who had fallen into a storm drain on Dan’s Highway, on June 26, 2019. Photo published with permission from its owner

Halm said she could see the duck and five duckings standing near a storm drain, and that the animals were nearly struck by motorists speeding by, when she heard babies chirping from down below.

“While they were chirping, she was not going to leave,” Halm said. “She kept quacking for them. And people were flying by.”

Faced with the heavy grate and needing help, Halm phoned the New Canaan Public Works Department, and two members of its Highway Department responded, Sean Halloran and Michael Schiano.

“The guys were so patient, because these ducklings kept hopping back into the pipes,” Halm said. “If they had stayed down there too long they would get hypothermia and they wouldn’t have survived.”

The ducklings appeared to be fine as the DPW workers lifted them out and the mom looked on, Halm said.

“She literally watched us rescue them and she kept calling them, so we were able to put them down on the grass and they just took off running toward the family.”