A desperate mama duck “paced nervously” nearby in Rome before getting the best possible Mother’s Day gift when members of Rome Fire Department Engine Company #2, with help from Rome Police Department first responders, reunited her with her over a dozen baby ducklings after rescuing them from a storm drain on May 10.
Lieutenant Rex Mazur and firefighters Santino Emmanuele and Mathew Cole responded to the call, and, armed with a cardboard box to gather them in, one by one lifted the ducklings in distress up and out of the drain and back “under the wing” of their anxious mother.
“It is a public assistance type thing,” said Rome Fire Chief Michael Reilly of the Mother’s Day rescue. “We are always willing and happy to help animals in distress as long as its within our capabilities.”
A May 11 post to the Rome Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 694 official Facebook page applauded the trio of Rome firefighters for “extraordinary compassion.”
“Thanks to the firefighters’ and police officers’ kindness and bravery, the ducklings were safely reunited with their mother,” the social media post goes on to credit, “a heartwarming reminder of the care, courage, and the special bond between a mother and her babies!”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Mother duck reunited with ducklings, thanks to Rome firefighters
Reporting by Cara Dolan Berry, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
