To the rescue
From ducks to owls to possums, rescues and relocations are routine for city employees during the ‘hatching season’
Thanks to the quack thinking of a city employee, a duckling was retrieved from a storm drain following a hourslong rescue mission on Wednesday in Lodi.
It was just the latest of numerous animal rescues conducted throughout the city during what Lodi Animal Services Officer Jordan Kranich refers to as the hatching season.
“Everything is coming out of the woodworks now,” said Kranich, who ushered a mama duck and 11 ducklings to Lodi Lake on Thursday morning after they were spotted waddling down Lodi Avenue.
Ducks will usually find nice gardens for birthing, Kranich said, and then search for waterways like the canals running through town after their ducklings have hatched.
It’s been an extremely busy month for Kranich and the animals services staff, rescuing and relocating animals on an almost daily basis.
Among the recent rescues:
• Kranich netted a mother Canadian goose and three goslings on Century Boulevard and released them at Lodi Lake.
• Kranich was able to corral 12 ducklings at the Woodlake shopping center on Turner Road and then have the mother duck follow him to a nearby canal in Woodbridge where they were safely released.
• After a resident was able to gather 10 ducklings that hatched next to a pool on Westwind Drive, Kranich walked with them to the canal at Lower Sacramento Road and Lodi Avenue with mama duck in hot pursuit.
• Kranich was able to rescue a great horned owl that had fallen from its nest and transport it to the Wildlife Care Association in Sacramento along with several baby possums and their mothers.
• Kranich was able to capture and relocate a gopher snake that was mistaken for a rattle snake in a new development
in southwest Lodi. He said that such encounters are becoming more common as Lodi builds out and encroaches on different habitats.
Wednesday’s rescue was unique in the method used to lure a duckling to safety.
It all started around mid-morning, according to Rita Hill, who lives on Westbridge Drive in the Bridgetowne subdivision.
Hill said she noticed her neighbor erecting a contraption around a manhole cover. The sounds of ducklings could be heard under the street and an unsettled mama duck and two babies were roaming close by in search of the little lost ones.
Unable to spot the ducklings, Hill said calls were made to the Lodi Fire Department and the City of Lodi to aid in the rescue. Lodi Public Works dispatched several workers to the scene, equipped with a remote-controlled camera and a long pole with a basket on the end.
“They were going from one manhole cover to another,” Hill said of the workers pursuing the ducks as they drifted through the storm drain from one street to another. “It was quite an ordeal.”
As the ducklings made their way to Bristol Lane, Hill said the city crew opened a hydrant and tried to flush them to a nearby manhole where they were waiting with the pole. But the ducklings proved elusive once again, with Hill noting that on the video monitor you could see the two siblings paddling around the camera and slowly making their way out of the Bridgetown neighborhood toward Turner Road.
The ducklings didn’t seem to be in much harm, however, as video footage captured them contentedly floating along as if on a lazy river and munching on a buffet of bugs.
“They weren’t going to starve,” Hill said.
After several hours of failed rescue attempts and with temperatures reaching into the mid-90s, the crew was ready to abort the mission. That’s when Kranich arrived on scene with a fresh idea. He suggested using a phone to play video of a mother duck’s honks. Sure enough, when the phone was held inside a manhole and the video of a mother duck’s cries was played, one of the ducklings was coaxed towards the sounds and Kranich was able to net it.
By that time, Kranich said, the mother duck and her two other babies couldn’t be located and the other duckling continued its journey through Lodi’s underground scene. The duckling should be okay, Kranich said, as they are very self-sufficient and don’t rely on their mothers for food.
The rescued duckling was transported to Tri County Wildlife Care in Jackson where it will rehabilitate before being released.
Kranich said the ducklings were probably spooked by something, causing them to fall into the storm drain. Such scenarios aren’t uncommon this time of year.
“It’s birthing and hatching season for wildlife so please call for help before trying to rescue,” he said.