Construction crew plays hero to Granville Island ducklings

Earlier this week, thousands of people could do nothing but watch as an eaglet died in a nest monitored by a Web cam on Hornby Island. Another story involving wildlife in distress unfolded this morning at the entrance to Granville Island. This time, onlookers were able to take action and a crew from JJM Construction became heroes to a mother duck, her eleven ducklings, and several admiring bystanders.

Just after nine this morning (May 22), the duck and her brood were crossing the parking lot behind the 2nd Avenue Starbucks. Mom crossed a drainage grate with no trouble, but the tiny ducklings behind her dropped, one after another, between the grate openings and onto the sludgy mud beneath. Though none of them appeared harmed by the approximately six or seven foot drop, intervention was clearly going to be required if they were ever to be reunited with their mother, who stood, distressed and helpless, beside the grate.

Help came in the form of Alex Anzulovich, Rick Miller, Mitchell Stone, and Kim (sorry Kim, I didn’t get your last name!) who were working beneath the Granville Bridge and witnessed the incident.

After the ducklings failed to cooperate with initial attempts to lure them into a lowered bucket baited with bits of sandwich, Anzulovich almost literally jumped headfirst into the hole. With his colleagues holding his legs, he picked the ducklings up one at a time and returned them to their waiting mother, who looked as grateful as a duck can look. With very little hesitation, the family picked up where they left off and waddled away—this time, avoiding the drainage grate.

Nothing like starting the day off with a happy ending.

Comments

2 Comments

Craig Takeuchi

May 22, 2009 at 12:26pm

I remember reading an almost identical story that also took place at Granville Island a few years ago. If this is a recurrent problem, I wonder if the grates should be redesigned so that it has some sort of mesh that prevents wildlife from falling through the openings?

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Mike Cantelon

May 22, 2009 at 1:21pm

These little guys were sighted earlier in Vancouver... I wonder if it's the same bunch?

http://twitpic.com/5p38x

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