The scene was a warm sunny Saturday in downtown Washington DC, a mother duck and her ducklings were wondering about when the momma decided to jump into a nearly empty fountain on the corner of Constitution Ave and 6th St NW. That’s when a passerby noticed that the ducklings were too small to get into the fountain on their own and decided to help them by picking them up and putting them into the fountain. Sadly, the holes in the grate covering the drain were larger than the ducklings and two fell in. Luckily though, someone spotted this and called DC Animal Control. A team of officers arrived shortly after the call went out and the officers began the task of rescuing the babies. At one point after removing the cover to the drains, Officer John White allowed Officers John Holubar and Shawn Covington to lower him down several feet into the tiny opening to see if he could capture the ducklings which were now barely visible. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Officer White reached for his new Blackberry. He quickly went to the App store and downloaded a mother duck call, and began playing the sound through his Blackberry while holding it over the drain. It worked! One of the baby ducklings came running out and was quickly captured. Unfortunately the other duckling did not reappear and after several revisits to the scene has not been seen again.
During this time of year, people are more apt to encounter young wildlife and it is important not to interfere. If you believe an animal is in danger or is sick or injured call your local animal control department and monitor the animal until the officers show up. Often times, people believe animals need our help when in fact they really need us to leave them be, but make the call, talk to the people who are trained in when to intervene and how to best help. WHS Animal Control Officers are some of the best in the business, we provide specialty training both in the class room and in the field and as you can see they are very creative in their methods to rescue animals.
We wouldn’t have been able to do this if it weren’t for our friends at Verizon. They have shown that they care about the work we do and support us 100%. If you would like to support the work we do you can attend our upcoming gala, the Bark Ball. For more information visit www.barkball.com
Here is the news coverage of the event as it unfolded on Saturday April 30th 2011
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