TOMS RIVER, NJ – At Tuesday’s Toms River Township Council meeting, Mayor Maurice Hill was excited to announce the rescue of three baby ducks who fell into a storm drain the township earlier in the day.
According to Hill’s press secretary Art Gallagher, “At approximately 2:30 this afternoon, Toms River Special Police Officer II Taylor Boschetti was on duty providing security at Town Hall when a female resident entered the building and reported that there was a crowd gathering outside around that storm drain and that there were ducklings trapped in the drain.”
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Gallagher said Officer Boschetti inspected the scene and determined that three juvenile ducks were trapped and that the mother duck had retreated to Water Street to attend to the rest of her brood. Boschetti alerted Toms River Animal Control. Senior Animal Control Officer Dave Matthews and Rich Barbosa, manager of the Toms River Animal Shelter responded.
“Matthews was able to net the three ducklings in about 10 minutes. Reuniting them with their family was a bigger challenge,” Gallagher said in a statement. “Officer Boschetti directed Matthews and Barbosa to the brush behind the Horner House at the southeast corner of Water Street and Horner where they located the squawking mother duck and 9 additional chicks.”
Mayor Mo Hill commended Matthews, Barbosa and Boschetti for a job well done.
“Those are lucky ducks,” Hill exclaimed.
