Mother duck refuses to leave road until ducklings are safe, Swansea cops say

A mother duck refusing to leave the roadway created problems for drivers on Wednesday, Swansea police say.

But she had a perfectly reasonable excuse to linger on the street.

A driver reported the duck was “creating a traffic safety issue,” and police officers responded to the scene. There, they discovered ducklings trapped in a storm drain.

“Momma duck refused to get out of traffic without her babies,” police posted on Facebook.

Mother ducks are protective of their young, even attacking stray ducklings not part of their brood, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, a charity in the United Kingdom.

Although ducklings can feed themselves once finding water, they’ll usually stay with their mothers for 50 to 60 days until they’re able to fly.

Swansea police officers and firefighters rescued the ducklings from the drained and reunited them with their mother.

“Do they charge her and put it on her bill?” a Facebook user commented.

Another person said “Ticketing mama duck would have been fowl play!”

“Momma duck was not cited and only received a warning,” police joked on Facebook.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 3:36 PM.