A New Jersey family realized a mother duck was standing near a sewer grate in their neighborhood for a heartbreaking reason: 11 ducklings had fallen under the heavy storm drain.
One family wasted no time getting them back out. As ABC News reported, on May 5, Catherine Farrell and her family noticed something was wrong when they saw a mother duck lingering near the sewer grate. They soon heard ducklings crying from below.
Farrell captured video of her husband, Brandon, jumping into action. In the clip, he shifts the sewer grate, stretches out on the ground, and lifts the ducklings from the drain.
Farrell reached out to Animal Control, which stayed with the ducklings until their mother returned.
The rescue highlights a challenge that can appear in ordinary neighborhoods.
Storm drains and sewer grates may serve an important purpose to prevent streets from flooding and keep them clean of debris, but they can also become hazards for small wildlife. Ducklings, in particular, are vulnerable because they follow their mother closely and can easily slip through openings.
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Beyond the rescue itself, the moment captured a kind of community-minded kindness that people love to see: a neighbor stepping up, not for attention, but because help was needed right then and there.
"What a man! Out there in his slippers saving baby ducks," one commenter wrote.
Another wrote, "Some Heroes only wear Ugg slippers and shorts."
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