Former councillor and Gwelup resident Sharon Cooke alerted the City last Wednesday morning to the plight of a family of ducks crossing Porter Street towards Lake Gwelup Primary School.
‘My neighbour knocked on my door telling me about this family of cute little ducks walking to school,’ she said.
‘He noticed that they were hovering near the grate and that is when he realised two of the chicks were down inside the grate.
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READ NOW‘I called the City, who put me straight through to conservation officer Jo Taylor, who happened to be in the area.’
When Ms Taylor arrived she found the mum and dad ducks with four of their chicks frantically pacing back and forth near the drain, down which two other ducklings had slipped.
‘Luck seemed to be the agenda for the day when Mark Attwood and Daniel Slocomb from the City of Stirling engineering department drove by,’ Ms Taylor said.
‘They had all the necessary equipment to secure the area and pry the grate open.’
Mrs Cooke had found a butterfly net at her house, which was then used to stop the ducklings retreating down the drain while Ms Taylor reached in to rescue them.
‘The baby ducks were successfully reunited with their family and also received an escort across the road compliments of the City of Stirling’s engineers,’ Ms Taylor said.
‘In the end, watching mum and dad marching off happily with their family safe was all the thanks we needed and made our efforts worthwhile.’
Mrs Cooke said the entire incident took about half an hour. ‘The rapid response was a testament to the genuine interest shown by the staff,’ she said.