St. Petersburg firefighters came to the rescue of nine baby ducklings trapped in a storm drain Thursday morning behind Tyrone Square Mall.
Crews responded to the call around 9:52 a.m. and found the mother duck perched above the drain, according to The Tampa Bay Times.
"She was obviously distraught," Lt. Tom Kras told the newspaper. "She was definitely standing on the grate protecting them."
The firefighters put on partial bunker gear and the mother let them approach, but stood nearby, quacking as they went to work.
It took three firefighters to lift the grates that were trapping the ducklings in and once they were off, Firefighter Ted Johnson jumped down into the drain.
The ducklings began to scatter, but he quickly corralled them with his legs and scooped them up, one-by-one.
Once out to safety, the ducklings scurried over to their mother, but one got away and firefighters were forced to chase it down in the parking lot and made sure it was safely returned to its family.
