St. Joe's paramedics save ducklings on Route 46

Kaitlyn Kanzler | NorthJersey

Several members of the St. Joseph's Health Mobile ICU team rescued some ducklings in Totowa after a car struck the adult duck they were with on Monday.

The team, which included MICU Medical Director Kim Baldino, Community Paramedicine Manager Robert Bertollo and Paramedic Mike Klouda, were returning from a call in Fairfield at about 3:45 p.m. when they saw a number of cars parked on Route 46 west at various angles, according to their filed report.

"They had pretty much shut down the highway," Bertollo said, adding that they weren't able to see what was on the other side of the median that split the highway.

Worried that someone may have been injured, they requested that police go to the scene. Instead, the team discovered a duck had been hit by a car while trying to cross the road.

The duck was taken to a local veterinarian by people who had stopped. It is unknown if the duck survived. After the adult duck was taken to the vet, Bertollo said, they thought that was the end of it until people from an adjacent parking lot told them differently.

Others at the scene told the EMS members there were six ducklings trapped on the other side of the highway, under a car, that needed to be rescued.

Blocking off the car on three sides, the crew grabbed the ducklings from under it and placed them in a box. A vet technician who was on scene offered to take the ducks to her office to be cared for.

"I have to say that is a first [animal rescue] on the job," Klouda said.

Bertollo said it doesn't happen too often but they do occasionally have to rescue an animal or two.

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