A Walnut Grove woman is among a group of strangers who banded together to help a duck and her ducklings find safety on Sunday.
Jessica Cushnaghan and her mother, Cathleen, came upon a group of people directing traffic in the Willowbrook commercial area.
“Once we started to pass the crowd we realized that there was a mother duck with nine babies behind her trying to cross a very busy road trying to desperately find a body of water,” she said.
They parked and got out to help.
The Bosley pet store provided a cage and some bird seed to the group which was trying to lure the birds to safety.
The nearly Unami Sushi gave the group a box to put the ducklings in and a staff member helped out.
“Once we had the cage set up with the food and towels at the ready, we all came up with a plan,” she said. “Some of the people pushed the babies and mom duck towards the other people trying to catch them , and after a very long 10 minutes we got all nine babies in the box safe and sound with their momma in the cage.”
The group contacted the nearby Boundary Bay vet hospital which assessed the animals at no charge.
“The vet gave the momma duck and all nine babies a clean bill of health,” Cushnaghansaid.
The next hurdle was where to release them.
“We chose Katzie Elementary School because there was is a beautiful duck pond,” she said. “Once we released them, they where all very happy to be there and it left all the people that helped today with a great sense of community, as we all came together as a team and tried to help a little mother duck and her babies.”
