The RSPCA has rescued 65 ducks from the River Calder in Lancashire after the birds became trapped after they were swept over a steep weir.
Specially trained water rescue officers used a boat and a net to catch the large group of birds who had got into difficulty at the Calder aqueduct near Catterall.
The majority of the ducks were young juveniles and still too young to be able to fly back up over the weir, becoming trapped in a pool of water that one of the rescuers described as being like a ‘washing machine’.
Five younger ducklings and two adults were also brought to safety by the charity during the rescue last Thursday (July 13).
RSPCA animal rescue officers Steve Wickam and Daniel Tomlinson got into the water and spent over three hours catching the birds in small batches before handing them to their colleague, inspector Carl Larsson, who was waiting on the bank.
All the birds were checked over before being released onto the Lancaster Canal where they quickly dispersed in groups.
It wasn’t possible to identify the parents of the five ducklings, who were taken to Wolfwood, a Lancashire-based wildlife and rescue, where they will be looked after until they are old enough to be returned to the location.
It’s the second time in as many years that the RSPCA has been called to rescue mallards at the Calder aqueduct.
The charity is planning to speak to the relevant authorities to see what can be done to prevent another incident from happening in the future.
Carl said: “The water there is fast flowing and quite a difficult stretch to work on, so it took us well over three hours to catch the ducks as they were obviously very wary of being approached.
“These were mainly young mallard ducks who would have been born further upstream in the spring. Once they’d gone over the weir they became trapped in the fast flowing water which travels underneath the canal at this location.
“It’s a bit like a washing machine in there, some of the very small ones were going round and round in circles and sadly we found four deceased ducklings and a juvenile mallard in the water.
“There’s quite a steep drop at the weir and unfortunately they were just too young to be able to fly back over it to safety. We think they’d probably been trapped for a couple of days as they were all ravenous and some of them were attempting to eat debris in the water.
“Once we’d released them onto the canal they all swam off quite quickly which was great to see, and we’d like to thank the member of the public who assisted us on the river bank. We’ll continue to monitor this stretch of the river for the next month or so until any remaining ducks are going to be old enough to get themselves out of trouble.”
July to September are some of the busiest months for the RSPCA. The charity has just launched its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign to raise funds to help its frontline teams continue to rescue and save animals from cruelty and abuse and to raise awareness about how to stop cruelty to animals for good.
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