Butler police chief rescues duckling from sewer grate outside St. Agnes school

 

BUTLER, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A rescue outside a Butler school has become quite the buzz among staff and students. It involved a duck, her ducklings, and the chief of police. 

The commotion began early Thursday before the start of the school day at St. Agnes. As that mama duck passed by a sewer grate, she stopped when one of her ducklings fell in. 

"We felt so bad for her," said Jackie Schulz, St. Agnes 2nd grade teacher.

Jackie Schulz heard a duck in distress as soon as she stepped out of her car. 

"And it was so worn out from laying on its back and asking for help," said Schulz. And needed help to come fast. 

"The mother was starting to head toward the bushes, cars were driving in to drop children off. The 7th grade teacher, Teri, showed up and said, 'Wait, let me try calling the police right away,'" said Schulz.

They made this call to police: "There's a mother duck with nine ducklings. One of her ducklings fell through the sewer grate here on our playground. We're wondering if DPW can come quick and move the plate and rescue the duckling."

"And he's like, 'You guys are kidding.' No, please, get it out, the kids are gonna be showing up soon, we don't want them to think we're ignoring a little creature," said Schulz.

The chief himself, just a few blocks away, responded. 

"When I got there, I saw the sewer grate. There were people huddled around this grate. And I look down, which is about five-feet down, and I see this little duckling on its back, flapping its little wings and its legs just going 100 mph," said Butler Police Chief David Wentlandt.

"He lifted the lid, he crawled in there, kind of stepped on something," said Schulz.

"Put on some gloves, picked up this little duckling and came out of the sewer grate with this little duckling in my hands. So, there's probably about six or seven moms that were in the area, staff, and they were cheering, and some pictures were taken that were posted on Facebook. It just started chirping at me and just a little, 'thank you, thanks for rescuing me,'" said Chief Wentlandt.

"Well, it just shows how you count on other people in a community, I mean we couldn't do it by ourselves," said Schulz.

"It is a great, happy ending to this little duckling. It was named Agnes, for St. Agnes, the school that it was found at, and its nickname is Aggy," said Chief Wentlandt.

Away from the rest of her family, we're told Agnes wasn't eating. 

That is when one smart teacher adopted another duckling, and we're told the two of them are now doing great together.