Oswego Township road crew rescues ducklings from storm sewer grate

Two Oswego Township Road District workers are being lauded for their efforts to rescue six newly hatched ducklings that had fallen through a storm sewer grate in Boulder Hill.

They went to a neighborhood on Fieldpoint Road in Boulder Hill at 7 a.m. May 29 after a resident there called KenCom Public Safety Dispatch about what had happened.

The mother to the ducklings was distraught, according to the resident. The ducklings were less than a day old.

“Mother duck was out there yakking and screaming and wanting some help,” Oswego Township Highway Commissioner Claude Ainsworth said. “I sent two guys out there and they were able to get the ducks out.”

It took about 15 to 20 minutes for Tim White and Bryan Choate to get the ducklings out of the storm sewer grate. It’s not a situation they encounter every day.

“This is not something that happens all the time,” Ainsworth said. “It’s the first time I can recall it happening on my watch.”

The ducklings were not injured. Ainsworth is happy the rescue was successful.

“It’s a feel good story,” he said. “There’s a body of water behind that road. And so I’m sure they went back there.”