What to Know
- Suffolk County police used a duck calling cell phone app to lure a family of ducklings out of a drainage pipe
- One reluctant duck refused to swim back and had to be pulled out with a net
- The ducklings were reunited with their mother
Quick-thinking police officers came up with a novel way to rescue a family of ducklings swimming to their doom in a drainage pipe: a duck calling app.
Officers played the app on their phone and lured the wayward ducklings back to safety where they were reunited with their mom.
Fourteen ducklings fell into a storm drain Sunday morning in the Bay Shore community of Suffolk County, New York.
Police said it happened near the Napa Auto Parts store on Aletta Place. The ducklings' mother was waiting nearby.
Someone called 911.
Officers removed the grate and grabbed four of the downy chicks. But the others swam deeper into the tunnel.
Local
Officer Steven Damico downloaded a duck calling app to his phone and played it. The ducklings responded to the sound and swam back into reach.
Police were able to grab nine more of the ducklings, but one was unswayed by the quacking app.
An emergency services officer arrived and retrieved the reluctant duckling with a net.
All of the ducks waddled off with their mom.
