PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire — Portsmouth police are crediting their animal control officer with saving the lives of 11 tiny ducklings.
The baby mallard ducks, now less than a week old, are currently being treated by Sonja Ahlberg at the Center for Wildlife in York. Ahlberg says all of them are healthy.
“They’re doing really well,” she said.
The ducks’ story began at a Portsmouth hotel, where a dozen eggs were found in a nest under a nearby bush.
Portsmouth Animal Control Officer Bonnie Robinson says a red-tailed hawk killed the ducks’ mother. Robinson gathered the 12 eggs, brought them home and put them in an incubator.
“Eight of them hatched on Sunday,” Robinson said. “Two of them hatched on Monday. And one of them hatched on Tuesday.”
All but one hatched. The next day, Officer Robinson brought the ducks to the Center for Wildlife.
“We’re really thankful that once they hatched, [Robinson] brought them right here, and that way we can raise them, have them on appropriate food and husbandry,” Ahlberg said. “And make sure that they grow up wild and releasable.”
The baby ducks are getting more active. In fact, in the next few days they’ll be placed in a larger enclosure out back to give them more room to move around and to spread their wings.
Ahlberg says the ducks will be ready to be released by the end of the summer. That’s when she hopes their instincts will take over.
“I couldn’t just leave them there, when they had a chance to hatch,” Robinson said.
The Center for Wildlife hopes that once the ducks are released, they will find another family to teach them where to forage for food and how to avoid predators.
They say mallards are pretty picky about taking in other babies, so they hope some other flock will take them under their wing.