The Peninsula Humane Society/SPCA rescued seven baby ducklings that had been trapped in a storm drain Wednesday morning.
Spokesperson for PHS/SPCA, Buffy Martin Tarbox, said in a statement that they received a call from a resident who had seen the mother duck pacing near a storm drain on Saratoga Drive in San Mateo.
Rescue staff rescued the ducklings by netting them and bringing them to the surface, while the mother duck stayed close by.
“Once we had all seven of the ducklings above ground, we checked them for injuries, and thankfully they were fine despite their ordeal,” Tarbox said. “We then moved the ducklings to an area away from the drain where the mother duck took back possession of her babies and led them into the safety of [a] nearby pond in a park.”
Tarbox added that they receive at least one call a week for trapped ducklings during wildlife baby season, which occurs during the spring months.
“Sometimes the mother isn’t around, so we cannot reunite the family. In those cases, we bring the ducklings back to our Wildlife Care Center in Burlingame and raise them until they are old enough to survive on their own and then return them to the wild,” Tarbox said.
They’ve also rescued kittens, raccoons, opossums and skunks from storm drains this year.
PHS/SPCA is a local nonprofit dedicated to animal welfare. Its Wildlife Care Center rehabilitates 1,200 to 1,400 animals yearly.
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