Brookfielders came to the rescue Thursday morning after two broods of ducklings fell through manhole covers into the village’s sewers.
Nine ducklings fell into a manhole on Arden Avenue just north of Washington Avenue while three fell into a different manhole near the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Maple Avenue.
Brookfield resident Angelica D’Amico Hayes rescued eight of the nine ducklings on Arden Avenue herself. In a direct message, she told the Landmark she saw a post in the Facebook group Brookfield Connections Thursday morning about the ducklings and decided to head over since she was in the area.
She said she removed the manhole cover herself and pulled the ducklings out one by one.
“They would hide in [the] sewer system and then slowly peek out again, and I would quickly grab one at a time,” she wrote. “I realized most people were on their way to work at that time and I have the day off, so I had to at least try.”
She said Brookfield public safety and public works staff rescued the ninth duckling on Arden Avenue; as far as she could tell, none of the ducks were injured.
Both broods were rescued around the same time Thursday between 8 and 9 a.m., said Village Forester Victor Janusz, who was on the way to help with the operation on Arden Avenue when he came across public works staff rescuing the other brood near Fairview Avenue and Maple Avenue.
“They had already pulled two out. They had one last duckling in there, and it kept going into the sewer line,” he said.
“The duckling went from that location to the middle of the street — in the sewer, obviously — then it went to the west sewer grate,” he added. “It was on the other side of the street, and then I guess it found another line, and it was bouncing around to the different water lines in the intersection.”
Janusz said publics work staff were eventually able to grab the duckling when it approached a sewer opening. None of the ducklings in the second brood were injured, either, he said. All of the ducklings were released to their mothers, who were both nearby the manholes their brood fell into.
“This is one of those weird tests. This isn’t something that happens all the time,” he said. “I think it’s a value that everybody should remember, that lives matter, right?”
