Good Samaritans rescue ducklings after mother is hit on highway

CTV Atlantic: Remarkable rescue: Ducklings saved Seven ducklings were sent scattering when their mother was hit by a vehicle as they crossed the road. Some Good Samaritans saved them.

Some Good Samaritans are being hailed as heroes after they stopped to help some ducklings after their mother was hit by a vehicle as they crossed the road.

The ducklings were following their mother across a busy Cape Breton highway during rush hour when she was hit.

Myrna Gillis saw it all happen while she was driving home from work.

“The car in the lane beside me didn’t see the ducks and kept on driving and she hit the mother duck, the little baby ducks started running all over the road,” says Gillis.

Sam White and his girlfriend Sandra Wallace were a few cars behind.

“The babies scattered, two of them fell into the manhole grate,” says White.

“They were just chirping down there, it was a sin,” says Gillis.

White and Wallace sprang into action. They had to be creative, but were able to rescue the trapped ducklings.

“He used chains to wrap around the manhole grate, used a car jack to pop it up, got the cover off and used a big, long fishing net to get them out,” says Gillis.

White says he needed to do what it took to ensure the safety of the ducklings.

“There is no way I was leaving those two ducklings down there in that storm sewer, there’s no way,” says White.

The lucky ducks were taken home to Glace Bay by their rescuer, where it turns out they had friends waiting for them right in his backyard.

“We just happen to have a duck pond filled with ducks and ducklings,” says White. “What are the odds of that happening?”

Against the odds, the mother duck was not killed in the collision. White says he hopes to track her down. Until then, he’s nursing the ducklings himself.

“The best option of course would definitely be to reunite them with their mother, which I’m hoping is going to be possible,” says White.

“But failing that, we’re gonna raise them and we’ll slowly introduce them to the pond out back.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald