Lubbock Fire Department Nabs PETA Award for Duck Rescue

First Responders Retrieved Trapped Bird From Storm Drain After Two-Day Ordeal

For Immediate Release:
May 29, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A Compassionate Fire Department Award is on its way from PETA to Lubbock Fire and Rescue for saving a duck who was trapped inside a pond overflow drain at Phil Hoel Park.

On May 27, a concerned citizen alerted the fire department to the trapped duck, who was one of a group of four ducks who’d been living at the park since shortly after Easter. Firefighters arrived on the scene and attempted to rescue the bird, but they were thwarted when he or she retreated further inside the pipe. Undaunted, they returned the next day and were finally able to pull the animal to safety. The rescued duck and another who had stayed in the pond were found a safe new home at a farm in Levelland, but unfortunately, the other two ducks in the group are believed to have previously perished inside the drain.

“The patience and dedication of these big-hearted firefighters meant the difference between life and death for a poor, terrified stuck duck,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA hopes this story will inspire people to come to the aid of other animals in need.”

Lubbock Fire and Rescue will receive a framed certificate, a box of vegan cookies, and a copy of The Engine Two Diet—a Texas firefighter’s 28-day plan for staying in prime firefighting shape through eating vegan meals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—has urged city officials to retrofit the drain with welded wire mesh panels in order to prevent other animals from becoming trapped. The group offers tips for helping wildlife on its website.

PETA opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.