Earlier this week, RSPCA Rescue Officer Soraya rescued a mother duck and her six ducklings from a suburban swimming pool.

We received a call notifying us that the feathered family had made themselves at home in the backyard of someone’s house. The owners had been away on holiday so for mother duck it seemed like the perfect place for her to bring her babies up – they even conveniently had a large water source that they could easily access.

Mother duck and her babies had decided to go for a swim, but the water level in swimming pools is often too low for the ducks to get out and if not attended to they can drown.

Luckily Soraya managed to catch mother duck and her babies and re-home them at the closest safe water source where they swam away and are hopefully living happily ever after.

As the weather gets warmer more ducks will find their way into residential properties. To avoid this from happening please do the following:

1. Keep a cover on your swimming pool. This will deter the duck from thinking your garden is a suitable nesting location
2. Keep objects in the pool so the duck thinks the area is already populated
3. To discourage them from nesting keep hedges trimmed

If you find ducks and/or ducklings in your pool, please do the following to ensure that they do not drown:

1. Place floating objects in the pool to allow them a place to rest
2. Give them a ramp, or object that they can use to get out of the pool
3. Keep your pets away

For more information on rescuing birds, including ducks, please visit: http://www.faunarescue.org.au/bird-rescue-methods.htm

For advice and rescue please contact Fauna Rescue on 08 8289 0896 or our hotline on 1300 4 777 22.