Traffic, police make way for Bay Shore ducklings

In the 30 years Annette Cruz has lived in her Bay Shore home, she's seen an assortment of animals wander into her backyard. But until Sunday she had never seen a family of ducks.

Cruz, 45, was awakened at 6:30 a.m. by the sounds of her dogs barking and bumping up against their wooden doghouse in the backyard.

"I was so curious. I knew there was something back there because these dogs don't get like that," Cruz said.

That "something" was a mother duck and her 10 ducklings, who waddled past Cruz and into a neighboring yard, which was guarded by two dogs, before Cruz's son chased the ducks back onto his property.

"When they got to the other yard, the dogs started coming out," said Michael Cruz, 18. "I didn't want them to get hurt."

On the journey back, four ducklings fell into a sewer.

Annette Cruz said she tried to get the sewer lid off but couldn't. She said she called the Town of Islip Animal Shelter in Bay Shore. It was closed, so she called the police for help.

Five units, including Suffolk County emergency services, arrived around 8 a.m., tied a chain to the sewer lid and pulled it off, the family said. An officer then scooped the ducklings out one by one with a net and reunited them with family.

Cruz said the scene drew a large crowd of onlookers. "Usually when you see something like that, it's when somebody gets hurt. But these were ducks. We stopped traffic for ducks. But now they're safe."

It took more than three hours to get the ducks to safety.

Michael Cruz said the ducks had become "like family." The Cruz family released them Sunday in the pond at Lakeland County Park in Islandia.

"I'd rather let them be in the pond, with other ducks, where I know they're safe," Cruz said. "I wish I could keep them."