Seven ducklings are taking up lodging at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society after being scooped out of a trench at a construction site in the city on Wednesday.
Stewart Tourangeau is a contractor with a trucking company in Calgary that’s been involved with ongoing construction on 14 Street S.W. and said he was part of a crew that dug the trench, which is about a half a metre deep, in the northbound lane on Monday.
They had to wait for a road closure to be put in place before returning to the site Wednesday and that’s when their focus changed from digging to a rescue mission.
Tourangeau said his coworker heard a squeaking sound coming from the trench and when the two of them looked, they were met with the faces of seven dusty ducklings sitting on the bottom.
“I was told that they actually did cross from the southbound lanes to the northbound lanes by themselves,” Torongeau said.
Torongeau and his coworker called their supervisor who then called the city to see what they should do. He said the supervisor was told to get the ducks out of the hole so they could be handed off to a city official.
Photos sent to Global News from the scene show construction workers in reflective vests and hardhats scooping the birds out of the hole and into a cardboard box with their work gloves on.
Torongeau said all the ducks in the trench appeared to be in good shape, aside from being away from their mother. He said the person who came to take them away mentioned seeing a dog chasing an adult duck earlier in the morning.
“It was kind of cool to see them but also sad to know they don’t have their mom and won’t be raised by their mama,” Torongeau said.
“It was good to know that they were going to be taken care of wherever they wind up. So it’s going to be a lot safer for them than hanging out on 14 Street.”
According to the City of Calgary, the ducklings were taken to the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society to be cared for.
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