Calgary ducklings get ride to safety from cab driver

A Calgary cab driver rescued a duck and her ducklings from traffic and drove them to the river.

Checker Yellow Cabs driverUrga Adungafound a duck and nine ducklingsstranded in traffic at 16th Avenue and Shaganappi Trail on Thursday.

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"I didn't want to pass them because there is no way for them to escape from the road, it's blocked all the way," he said.

So Adunga put on his warning lights and pulled over, then stopped other cars before helping the mother duck.

"The other people, they are very nice people, and they stopped and they helped me get the nine ducklings," he said. "One of the people who helped me was a mother, and she had a backpack for the baby and she tried to put them in there, but we couldn't do it. So I told them to put them for me in the car."

With a cab full of featheredpassengers, he drove the ducks to the Bow River. It's a cab ride he estimates to be worth about $21, but of course, it was a free ride.

"It was amazing and I was happy to serve them."

The mother duck was calm during the ride and needed to be shooed out of the cab, while Adunga had to carry the babies out.

The ducksall waddled down to the river and Adunga cleaned the seat and continued on with his work, the cab company said in a press release.

"As a human it is ourresponsibilityto protect those animals, and nature and theenvironment," he said. "I could do it again too. Not only the animals, humans too.We have to rescueeachother, we have tohelp each other."