ORLANDO, Fla. – After two News 6 employees helped two car crash victims next to the WKMG station Monday morning they spotted someone else who needed their help: a mama duck, whose ducklings were stuck in a storm drain.
News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve Montiero and morning director Willie Doby were getting a breath of fresh air around 7:15 a.m. when they heard the sound of a car crash on John Young Parkway.
Both men ran across the busy road, hopped over a concrete barrier in order to assess the damage from the crash. When they got to the scene, they found a silver convertible flipped on its side with its airbags deployed and two me, who had been partially ejected from the vehicle. They helped free the victims from the vehicle.
Leaving the scene of the crash in the hands of first responders, Doby said he saw the duck waiting anxiously by the storm drain.
"I wanted to make sure she was alright and as I go over I hear babies squawking,” he said.
Montiero and Doby called the Orlando Fire Department for a wildlife rescue. Firefighters arrived and blocked off traffic with their firetruck, while they removed the storm drain grate.
“They went down inside --nasty, dirty water with trash, everything -- and they did whatever was necessary to get to these little ducklings and raise them up," Doby said.
One by one, the firefighter lifted out three ducklings and placed them them in a bucket. The babies were carried across the street to a pond where the mama duck was waiting.