It was a long, traumatic tumble down into darkness for four ducklings who recently fell into a 12-foot storm drain at a Florida apartment complex. Hungry and helpless, the ducklings were stranded at the bottom of the drain for at least six hours and faced certain death by drowning.

A compassionate passerby discovered these trapped ducklings and immediately called PETA. We contacted two heroic members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF), and they, along with the local fire department, acted quickly to rescue the ducklings and reunite them with their worried mother, who hovered nearby.

PETA is currently trying to work with the property manager to retrofit these storm drains so that no more animals face this terrible fate.

If you spot an injured, orphaned, or trapped wild animal, please call your local wildlife rehabilitation center and animal control immediately. If that doesn't work, call the fire department. And if necessary, get local media outlets involved! Remember, never to attempt to take care of rescued wildlife yourself—always seek help from a trained professional. And if you ever become aware of a situation that poses obvious danger to wildlife—like an open storm drain in a pond where ducks reside—speak up and ensure that safeguards are implemented. The best way to protect wildlife from life-threatening emergencies is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Written by Logan Scherer

The "duck man" is at it again. Last year, around this time, a news story about Washington banker Joel Armstrong, who caught ducklings as they leapt off an overhang, made the rounds on the Internet. This year, mama duck—dubbed "Amelia Duckheart" by bank staff—chose the same not-so-great place to hatch her brood, and Joel leapt into action again.

For a little over a month, Joel had been watching the nest, which is located on an overhang outside his office window.

Over the weekend, this year's brood hatched and found themselves in the same ugly situation as last year's—they were faced with having to jump from the dangerously high ledge down to the ground where their mother sat waiting.

Being an old hand at this, Joel was able to catch each duckling in mid-leap. He then escorted Amelia and her babies to the nearby Spokane River as a crowd of admiring bystanders cheered them on.

Talk about lucky ducks!

Written by Jennifer Cerlitsky