Bedford First Responders Scoop 11 Ducklings from a Storm Drain

Here’s the good news: a mother duck and her 11 babies were reunited in a pond off Middlesex Turnpike on Saturday afternoon, thanks to Bedford’s first responders.

Mother of the year? Not exactly. Don’t ask how she managed to lose all 11 ducklings in the same storm drain.

A passerby notified the public safety dispatcher, reporting a cluster of ducklings who crossed the turnpike and disappeared in a drain near the Taylor Pond apartments, near the corner of Plank Street.

Fire Department Capt. Mark Sullivan said he responded along with Lt. John Perry and Firefighters Sam Panzeri and Charlie Dias. 

When they arrived, Sullivan related, Police Officer Mary Ellen Brickey was “keeping an eye on them,” while the mother duck “was quacking and flying back and forth between the guardrail and the pond” in front of the apartment complex.

The firefighters removed the top of the drain and fished the ducklings out with a small net, as they tried to hide while swimming around their indoor pool, Sullivan reported. Police Sgt. Stephen Waite joined Brickey for traffic management, accompanied by an emergency communications officer, Julia Ford.

A few folks from the neighborhood witnessed the rescue, Sullivan noted, as the reunited family of ducks resumed what they do in the pond, as if nothing unusual had happened.