2 ducklings reunited with mom after falling down Pittsburgh storm sewer drain

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- After three baby ducklings washed down a storm sewer drain in Pittsburgh, there was an all out effort from three different agencies to save them, using every tool in their arsenal to reunite them with their mother. 

On Tuesday morning on the way to work, KDKA-TV's Andy Sheehan and his photographer came across a mother duck in distress, frantically pacing around a storm sewer grate through which her ducklings had apparently fallen.

Alerted by one of their bus drivers, Port Authority police arrived and used all their brawn to dislodge the grate. They found three ducklings swimming amidst the storm water and garbage.

"We've had this happen a couple of times. Once on one of our busways, we had some cats that fell down in the sewer and we recovered them as well. It's a baby duck. Couldn't be any cuter," said Port Authority Police Chief Matthew Porter. 

Officer Michael Anthony took the initiative to climb into the sewer and successfully rescued one of the ducklings, but frightened, the other two went deeper into the sewer and under the roadway outside Acrisure Stadium. City animal control arrived, as did two workers from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

The decision was made to open a hydrant, flood the sewer and try to push the two ducklings across the street. There on the other side, down a manhole, animal control dropped a net over the sewer opening, and in the strained water they caught another duckling. 

Now two ducklings were reunited with mom, and even after an hour and half of working this detail, the crew redoubled its efforts to get the third. 

KDKA-TV sent down a GoPro to try to locate the duckling but could see it. Another thought was to send mom down, hoping quacking could lure the baby out, but she could be not caught. The crew flushed the sewer once again but the duckling never appeared. 

"Two out of three," Porter said.

"How do you feel about that?" Sheehan asked.

"Not that good. Feel good for the two but we wanted to get all three of them," Porter said. "Hopefully the water one pushed her out to the river and it's swimming in the river at this point." 

It took five Port Authority police officers, two animal control officers and two workers from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to reunite this mother duck with two of her ducklings.