Ducklings Receive Care from Upper Chesapeake Employees

A group of employees from Upper Chesapeake Medical Center helped an unusual batch of patients Wednesday afternoon in Bel Air.

Around 5 p.m., staffers from the Kaufman Cancer Center were on their way to the parking lot when they heard a duck “going crazy,” Julia Heckrotte told Patch.

The mother duck was running back and forth in the area of a storm drain.

Springing into action, one pharmacist opened up the manhole, and another pharmacist hopped inside, where they found a group of ducklings, Heckrotte said.

They coaxed the ducklings to walk into a plastic bag, which was delivered to the mother duck on the grass nearby.

“As soon as they saw their mom, the little duckings jumped out and circled the mom,” Heckrotte said. “She was surrounding us the entire time.”

One straggler kept running away from safety, but a quick-thinking employee played her iPhone’s duck ringtone, and “the duckling ran right toward it and into a bucket,” according to Heckrotte.

Bel Air police arrived as the rescue was complete, and the Susquehannock Wildlife Society was called to help the ducks get safely to a pond.

“With the ponds here at Upper Chesapeake, ducks are constantly crossing the road,” said Heckrotte, who has seen police stop traffic on Route 24 so birds could cross. She advised others: “Just watch for ducks when they’re crossing the road.”

Photo Credit: Julia Heckrotte.