Animal Control Officer Rescues 4 Ducklings From Storm Drain In Palm Desert

PALM DESERT (CBSLA.com)  —  A Riverside County Animal Control Officer is credited Thursday with rescuing four ducklings from a storm drain in Palm Desert.

Officer James Huffman was dispatched to the Oasis County Club around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

A security officer at the facility received multiple complaints about "a momma duck and ducklings needing help."

Huffman said, "Four of her 12 babies had fallen into a storm drain through a metal grate in the road at the corner of Adalin Way and Joetta Place."

When he arrived on scene, one of the guards took him to the storm drain and then showed him the nearby lake where mom and the other eight ducklings were located.

"We pulled the metal grate out of the gutter and I climbed down into the drain. ... I collected the ducklings and climbed back out. We replaced the grate and I walked the four over to the lake," Huffman said.

"When I sat the missing four down ... they heard their mom quack, they jumped in the water and swam as fast as they could to meet up with mom and their brothers and sisters," Huffman added.

Meanwhile, there was another duckling rescue at Cal-Poly Pomona. Students said a mother duck was crossing South Campus Drive on Tuesday when all but two of her brood fell into a storm channel.

Police and firefighters teamed up to save the ducklings and return them to their mother.