Ducks saved following recent heavy rain at Concordia
JEFFERSON TWP — The effort to protect ducks and their babies at the Concordia Lutheran Ministries campus on Marwood Road doesn’t end with the project to cover the storm drain grates with mesh wire.
Residents whose balconies face a retention pond on campus, those who enjoy a nearby water feature and members of staff noticed recently that a large brood of ducklings could be seen swimming around in the retention pond after a few days of heavy rain.
The ducklings appeared to be motherless, and when they became stuck in the pond as it drained, staff snapped into action.
Emily Bitting-Jha, a public relations specialist at Concordia, said three staff members called their husbands to report the sad sight in the hopes the men would don their hip waders and save the struggling anatidae.
The husbands came to the rescue, and after some time in deep muck, they were able to rescue all 10 of the ducklings.
Linda Shurina, a Concordia bus driver, took the chilly birds home to warm them up with a hair dryer and feed them before transporting them to the Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Verona on Saturday morning.
“They were little tiny fuzzballs,” Shurina said.
