Good Samaritans stop traffic to help ducklings in the street in Crystal Lake

Traffic came to halt along busy Route 14 in Crystal Lake early Thursday afternoon as a band of strangers tried to help about a dozen ducklings and their mama who were in the street.

Employees from a nearby animal hospital were among those who tried to corral the newborns, who were quick on their webbed feet as they ran under cars, from being hit in traffic. Others included drivers who pulled into the center turn lane near North Shore Drive and hopped into action, as well as a woman who had just shown up for her appointment at a nearby salon, saw the commotion, grabbed a broom and ran to join the would-be heroes.

A man provided a tape measure to scoop the ducklings out from under vehicles. That man eventually caught the mama duck, who appeared to have a broken leg or wing. She and one of her ducklings were rescued first and placed in a box. Some ducklings made it across the street to a grassy area and were last seen waddling into the nature preserve. Eventually two more ducklings were rescued and placed in the box.

The chaos included an ambulance racing by, a school bus and a garbage truck that stopped as one last duckling headed under his tires. The driver got out to help.

The woman who secured the mama and three ducklings in the box took them first to McHenry County Animal Control. There she was referred to a rescue in Barrington.

Hannah Sonn and Annastacia Magana are vet assistants at the nearby Animal Medical Center of Crystal Lake, and were among the first to realize the duck and ducklings were in the street.

Magana, who rescued two ducklings, said she first saw the mama duck near the vet’s building while walking a dog. She thought it was injured because it didn’t fly away. She took the dog inside, came back out and then saw the duck was running in the street with a bunch of ducklings as traffic was stopping.

Sonn and Magana hopped into action. They said it was nice to see all the people who halted traffic and stopped to help the ducklings. Everyone was patient and no one was beeping their horns or yelling.

“It was really cool, so cool,” Sonn said. “It was really nice to see the community come together like that. … It was amazing. It really lifted my spirits."

Magana said rescuing the ducklings and seeing all the people help save the ducks and the patience of drivers “was amazing.”

“It was the highlight of my day. Made me feel like I did something good. I’m going to waddle out of work today with an extra tail feather,” she said, laughing. “My tail feather is high today.”