A brood of wayward ducklings were reunited with their mother last week thanks to a security guard at a Lewiston hospital.
Passers-by noticed a distressed mother duck near a storm drain on the Central Maine Medical Center campus. Soon they discovered the source of her woe: Her ducklings had fallen through the drain covering.
With help from city sewer workers, security guard Joe Francoeur climbed partway into the drain to free the helpless quackers.
“Joe Francoeur, being the selfless hero he always is, took off his vest right away and lowered himself into the drain to rescue the remaining four or five ducklings. I was then able to reunite the ducklings with their mother. It was amazing to see how much that mother duck cared for her ducklings,” Mason Arneault, security officer at the hospital, said in a statement.
Once freed, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, Quack and the rest of the younglings joined Mrs. Mallard to continue on their merry way.
